I'd Find You Anywhere
by the bananni
Summary: What happen's when Bella and Edward run into eachother 3 years later on spring break, after she ran from him with a secret. Will she share her secret? Or will she run? OOC, AH rated M for language and lemons later on.**Previoulsy titled Shifted**
1. preface

It was over three years ago when my life shifted, I had to refocus my priorities and realize in the end the only person to help me was, me. No one else could be truly trusted, people would come and go and others would betray you.

Today is my little mans third birthday. He's a reflection of his dad, well except for the chocolate brown hair he could thank me for. Other than that his hair was a constant state of disarray, add to that the piercing green eyes that were an exact reflection of the man I once loved and there was no disputing who helped create him. He loves sports, and is extremely smart, not a single clumsy bone in his body which I'm very thankful for. Jackson had even managed to pick up some of _his_ mannerisms, how I'd never know, my boy's never laid eyes on _him_ before, and I planned on keeping it that way. It was safer that way. I'd never let anything bad happen to my son, I sacrificed everything for him and always will. I have to, I'm all he has.

To hurt me is one thing, but I'd never let that man ever even think he was Jackson's father, my boy deserved better and furthermore he didn't deserve to think that such an amazing little boy could be his, he wasn't there, not even from the very start. I was left with no other choice then to run, I ran from Fork's, I ran from my friends, I ran from everything I knew, and lastly I had to run from Edward Cullen.


	2. Chapter 2

It was 3 o'clock our usual time to get home by. We slowly crept into the house trying to stay as quiet as possible. Alice flitted across the living room to plop on the couch with a effortless leap. Rose was flinging her heels by the door as silently as possible, trying no to make enough noise to wake anyone up. I'd met Rose and Alice about a year after I had gotten to Jacksonville, at the time I needed money and they helped me with that, we eventually all ended up roommates as well.

Technically today is Jackson's third birthday, but it's still way to early in the morning to wish him happy birthday. I planned on making his birthday as special as I could this year, I got my shift off so that I could spend the whole day with him. I also planned on taking him to that pizza place with the overstuffed mouse as there mascot, and kid toys everywhere.

"I got Jax's a present yesterday, I also talked Aro into giving me the day off too, I don't want to miss his birthday, that is if you don't mind me tagging along with you guys," Alice whispered from her spot on the couch, effectively pulling me from my mental list of what I wanted to do once Jackson woke up.

"Holy shit Al, I'm impressed he let you off, he's been horrible lately, he's way to worried about the upcoming 'business trip' he's making us go on." I air quoted around the business part because we all knew it was stupid, Rose and Alice chuckled. "But seriously Alice of course I don't mind you joining us, you know Jax wouldn't have it any other way. How about you Rose, are you coming along? I know tomorrow night is your usual night off." I looked over to see Rose shrug.

"I'd love to, but how do you think Alice got her night off? I offered to come in for her so she could spend the day with Jackson for his big day." she simply replied while picking at something invisible under her well manicured nails. Rose could be a bitch sometimes, a big one at that. But in the end if anyone of us needed anything she would help in a heartbeat, even if it meant she had to sacrifice something.

"Rose, thank you, that means a lot to me, and I know it means a shit ton to Alice too." Alice was practically jumping up and down on the couch nodding her head in agreement.

"Eh, it's no big deal. Main thing on my mind right now is counting down the days till Miami, even if it's suppose to be only for business." Rose responded while laughing at Alice and her excitement that was on the brink of being completely uncontrollable.

"Yah me too," responded a absolutely giddy Alice "Ooh, ooh we still have to go bikini shopping, dress shopping, and shoe shopping" Alice was sitting there counting off on her fingers all the things that we would need, and wouldn't need but she would still make us purchase. Alice is a funny little pixie, she would get overly excited just about anything and she would put her all into anything and everything that involved someone that she cared for. I could only imagine what she got for Jackson..

I rolled my eyes at the mention of Miami, I couldn't help it, this trip was going to be ridiculous. Renee offered to take Jackson for the week and a half I'd be gone, she demanded me to go on this trip. She claimed that I was 22, and I should be allowed to act like it for once. I wouldn't have told her no, the trip was mandated, but Renee being the only parental figure I still maintained contact with I felt obligated as well. She also felt like this trip was something that I needed to do to help me forget and move on, getting away for a little while to clear my head and start over. I half heartedly agreed, what was the worse that could happen..

Aro said that this trip was to "help" the club and us. His brother, Caius, opened a new club in Miami and it was getting a lot of hype and press. He set up for us to meet with his brother, and some of his girls, and to check out the club to see what it was all about. Aro wanted to see if we could use some of there ideas, and bring it back to the club in Jacksonville and see if we couldn't "spruce" up our routines, and the club. Aro is our boss along with Marcus, even though they both were technically our bosses we really only ever heard from Aro.

I've been dancing at Volterra now for two years now. Alice was the one who originally got me set up with the job. I needed money bad, and I wanted to be able to start a life for Jax and me, not under the roof of my mom. I had my reservations about it at first, I was never one with high self esteem especially after what happened, but I had to do it for my son, I wanted him to have the best life he could ever want, and well quite frankly McDonalds just doesn't pay enough, or give me the ability to work nights only. When I first started I was a ball of nerves always tripping and bumping into people, my first night I literally ran into a gorgeous blonde, who should have been a model, not here dancing, but really in actuality none of us deserved to be working there. It was Rose I had ran into, at the time I was scared shitless thinking she was going to kill me, she just simply turned and laughed and told me to get it together. From that point on I knew what I had to do to keep the money coming and make sure my son was carried for. It also helped I got two kick ass best friends out of the deal who were there to help me every step of the way.

After I glanced at the clock I saw that it was becoming to be well after 3, I had to go wake up Angela and tell her that she was good to go back to her apartment. I had hired Angela after I started working consistently at Volterra and had moved out on my own. I needed someone to stay with Jackson while I worked. She's a college student, like I should have been, at first I was afraid to find someone willing to work the weird hours that I needed but she insisted that the hours worked perfectly for her, it allowed her time to study, be with her boyfriend Ben, and not have to work all her courses around a daytime schedule that a regular job would leave her to do.

I tried to silently stalk my way back to where Angela was sleeping to let her know we were back and she could go. I made it most of the way there pretty quietly, I managed to trip only once on a vicariously placed Spiderman sneaker.

"Ang, hey we are back" she slowly sat up and readjusted her glasses and rubbed at her face.

"Oh, ok thanks um well I guess I won't get to see Jax until after you come back from Miami then" she sounded a little upset, and adjusted her glasses again, I noticed that she usually did that when you initially woke her up or when she had something on her mind. I figured it was the latter, she was most likely upset at she wouldn't see Jackson for almost two weeks. The two of them were peas in a pod, they instantly clicked and I couldn't be more grateful, it makes going off to work quite easier knowing he is happy.

"Well I had planned on us going out to eat for dinner tonight, Alice is joining us. I could send you a text before we leave to go and you could come if you wanted too" I knew Jackson would be ecstatic if she showed up, and I thought that it might make her feel a little better since they wouldn't see each other for a little while, even though it was over spring break and I had figured that she would have rather done something with Ben, and enjoy a "typical" college spring break, I guess she didn't want to she never mentioned any other plans other than studying.

"Thank you! I would love to go, thank you so much!' her face was all flushed and I knew that she meant every word she said, and I was reminded yet again how much she meant to Jackson and me.

We made our way to the front door and I let her out. I turned around and put my back against the door and sighed, time for me to go to sleep, it was always a bitter sweet time for me. I'd always dream of him and his cooper hair and piercing emerald eyes. Especially considering that it was so close to Jackson's birthday, I always remembered that night.

Slowly pushing off the door and making my way to my room, Alice and Rose had already retired to theirs. I set my self a goal, once I got back from Miami I'd try to find someone new, it was time and I needed to do it and I was ready. I knew Renee was right I needed to let go and move on.

With that in mind I laid my head down on my pillow and as my eyes slowly fluttered close, I prepared myself for what I would see in my dream knowing it would be that night…


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer- as you all should know very well by now I am not Stephenie Meyer, I'm just a measly mom with to much free time.. **

**Author's note- Hope you all enjoy this chapter it's a long one, if you likey please review, mind you this is my first fanfic so I'm kind of diving into this blindly, and would love to hear what you all think about it! Enjoy!**

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I looked down at the test and saw a + though my hands were shaking and I had tears on the verge of spilling over. I couldn't doubt what it said, it was positive. It was only one time that we had been together with out protection, I was sick so my pills weren't working correctly and he didn't want to wear a condom we had thought we would have been fine, so much for that assumption.

Edward and I had been dating for awhile, we were nominated class couple much to my disarray, I didn't like the extra attention. We were the basic high school sweethearts, we met right before our sophomore year, right after I had moved to Forks from Phoenix. I was the quiet new girl, he had a lot of friends and was basically a town legend, between his dad and playing sports. When we met it was an instant connection and we knew we were meant to be my skin literally tingled anytime he touched me.

We'd even planned on going to the same college. He wanted to become a doctor, like his father and my passion was always writing, I decided what better than to make a living off of it and be able to do something that I loved.

There was only a week before graduation, the actual ceremony, even though we had all passed our tests and knew we had diplomas coming our way it didn't seem real until we walked across the stage donning our bright yellow caps and gowns.

Because it was so close to summer, Forks' party season was in full swing, tonight was one at Kate's house. She was always nice and sociable, she was better friends with Edward then I was, but that seemed to be how it always was, I was the quiet reclusive one.

Right after I took the pregnancy test I was debating between calling him and telling him what happened, or go to the party and tell him to his face. I put myself in his position and felt that hearing "hey we may be just graduating high school but be ready to be a dad" wasn't an acceptable thing to hear over a ear piece of a phone. I did try to call him throughout the day and try to get a hold of him to see if we could get together before the party, but he ignored my calls. I figured he was just too busy with the guys or stressed out because of college coming up, lately he's been more distant and touchy I figured it was a combination of everything starting to get at him. I was left with no other choice then to try to pull him outside at Kate's party.

I pulled up to her house my truck groaning to a halt before the brightly lit house, it seemed like there were people seeping from everywhere.

Music was pumping, shaking me as I walked up to the house. At least I thought it was the bass shaking me, my nerves had been a wreck I could have very well just been shaking on my own for all I knew.

I stumbled my way up the stairs and opened the front door to the house, walking in I waved to a few people as I passed them and started looking around for the real reason I was here.

I spotted Emmett first, his big hulk of a self was squished over into a corner of the living room beer bong in hand, with a lanky Jasper pouring the alcohol down the funnel. I took another glance around the room to see if maybe I could see Edward. From the looks of everything it seemed Jasper and Emmett would be the place to start looking for Edward.

The three of them could be mistaken for the three stooges most of the time. They grew up together and all played football together, they could even finish each other's sentences if they wanted to not that they would willingly admit that.

I shoved my way over to them ignoring the offers for beer and other drinks, that was the last thing I needed. Finally I made my way through the drunken masses that had collected in the living room. It still surprises me how many people can cram into one house for a party. All you have to do is say is that there will be a keg and everyone flocks.

"Hey ya Bellzy, we didn't expect to see you here tonight" boomed Emmett's boisterous voice over all the music and the ringing in my ears from the sheer volume of everything going on in the house.

"Hey Em, Jasper" I gave a quick wave and head nod, "Have either of you seen Edward? I really need to talk to him and he's been ignoring his phone."

Emmett and Jasper shared a incredulous look before turning to me, Jasper looked almost pained in his eyes. I didn't understand it at all, maybe he had just drank to much, _ugh I'll kill him if he pukes on me, that'd be a new low even for him._ I was brought out of my mental monologue by a throat clearing I looked up to see Emmett looking at me, he finally spoke up "Um, ahh, I think ah he, he might be upstairs but ah, we aren't really sure" he finished by shoving his thumb between himself and Jasper.

"Oh ok, um well thanks?" I meant for it to come out more like a statement instead it sounded more like I was asking them. The conversation was turning weird rapidly and my nerves were already shot, especially when considering all that I had been through in the last fucking four hours I was about to burst.

I turned and walk away from them making my way up the stairs. The house looked small it couldn't have had more than 4 rooms upstairs, bathroom included. I'd find him one way or another, he deserved to know what the hell was going on and quiet frankly I missed him, _ugh so begins the emotional rollercoaster, laughing to pissed in zero to sixty_.

I reached the top of the stairs and took a deep shaky breath, _ok left or right left or right_, I mentally chanted to myself. My feet took off on their own accord and were taking me down the right side of the upstairs.

I tried the first door on the right hand side of the hallway, it was locked. I turned to my left and looked down the rest of the hallway, I noticed a doorway diagonal from the one I just tried on the left hand side of the hallway.

I could see a light shinning through the crack, _alright door number 2 it is then_, I took the few steps it took to get me in front of the door. Thankful I wore my trusty chuck's or else I would have tripped by now walking around in the dark.

The door was cracked enough to be able to tell a light was on, but it wasn't far enough that I could see the occupants or what they were doing. Mentally I groaned, _of course why would anything about this be easy..?_

I heard a girl sigh and a murmured guy's voice. Someone moved in front of the light effectively blocking it for a bit. At least I knew there actually was people in this room. It was now or never. I couldn't put my finger on why I was so worried and nervous about pushing a door open, worst case scenario was that it was the bathroom and I was about to interrupt a couple about to be getting hot and heavy.

I gave the door a quick shove and took in the scene in front of me, it was no wonder I was apprehensive. There right before me was a indeed a couple getting hot and heavy, it wasn't the bathroom it was one of Kate's sisters bedroom.

Edward had his shirt off and he was trying to un-do his jeans while a strawberry blonde was running her hands over his abs, licking his neck, and nibbling at his ear.

"Unghhh Tanya…" my boyfriend, my baby's father, my supposed everything mumbled.

They didn't notice me they were to caught up in the moment to notice the door swinging open. I was stunned, my brain clicking between fight or flight. I rested my hand on my stomach, fight probably wasn't my best choice I wasn't only risking myself anymore, their was some one else I had to consider now.

That's when it happened, my brain clicked and my world was never going to be the same regardless of what I did, I had another human life to care for.

I wiped my eyes, _Jesus how long had I been standing here_, he was now practically naked and well she might as well had been, the string she was wearing was hardly considerable as underwear or effective coverage.

Before I knew it a huge sob escaped my throat. Once the traitorous sound escaped me, two sets of eyes were shot in my direction. I shouldn't have been crying he was obviously a worthless piece of shit, one that I had managed to waste almost three years with.

Edward moved the "Tanya" bitch off of him and made a move to stand up but the strawberry whore put her hands on his chest and pushed him down to the bed and sat to straddle his waist, holding him there. He gently moved her off of him and sat up but didn't make any effort to move off of the bed. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "Bella, oh god, my Bella, look I can explain"

At that point I knew my mouth hit the floor at his actions and statement, which included MY Bella, screw him he wanted strawberry milkshake over there and he made it very clear by not even trying to get up.

I looked over to find bimbo shaking with silent giggles and a hand over her mouth as she took in my bewildered state. And right then and there I saw a perfect haze of red, my blood boiled and churned.

"Fuck you Edward, enjoy your little strawberry slut, I'm not _your_ Bella" I seethed.

Spinning around I raced towards the stairs effectively taking two at a time and managed to not bust my ass, I would have been impressed if I wasn't running away from the biggest part of my life. I shoved through the groups of people that had collected in the living room, Kate's sister Irina managed to spill a warm cup of beer on me as I shoved my way pass, soaking my jeans and t-shirt _ugh why can't I be Moses and part the drunk sea._

I shook my head and worked my way through the people. I got close to the front door, I could faintly hear in the background a familiar voice yelling my name. At the sound of that I pushed my way through the front door and stumbled to the porch. I grabbed the railing to the stairs on the porch and sucked in a deep breath of fresh air, wondering what the fuck I was going to do now.

I couldn't stay in Forks, _he _would be everywhere and so would the fake thing _he _was sleeping with. I couldn't go away to college, not when I'd be due anytime during spring semester, and at that go to the same school as _him. _Charlie would most likely try to shoot _him_. And I couldn't stand the small town gossip of what went wrong between the great Dr. Cullen's son and the Chief Swan's daughter, it was all too much.

I looked over to my left and saw two familiar faces looking over at me sadly, as they shared a cigarette. Jasper put up his hand and gave me a slight wave. He looked like he knew what I was feeling and the pain that I was going through. I had to get away, I couldn't stay and be constantly reminded of Edward.

I forced my legs down the stairs, the last thing I needed was Rico Suave Cullen to appear and udder some bullshit excuse to me. I made it to my truck and slammed the door shut. Silently praying that the truck would start first try, thank god it did.

I started to pull away from the curb and I looked back and saw a shirtless Edward holding the bridge of his nose animatedly explaining something, obviously what had just happened. Jasper and Emmett looked at him mouths agape. I returned my eyes to the road. I put one hand on my stomach and promised myself and the little one growing inside of me no more looking back, I was going to do whatever it took to give my baby the best life they could have.

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I quickly sat up in bed with a hand on my stomach and my other hand over my mouth, dripping in a cold sweat trying to stop myself from sobbing out loud. I looked around and took inventory of what I was seeing, _phew _it was all a dream. Not that I didn't expect it, every birthday every milestone I have some sort of flashback as to what happened that night.

Once I had gotten back to Charlie's house I decided to leave, I couldn't stay around the constant reminders, and I needed someone I could talk to and help me with what I was going through. Charlie is a great father, but he doesn't get involved and in this case I needed someone to be there for me. He didn't say much when I left, it wasn't in his nature.

I didn't even walk at graduation, I packed my old truck and left the next day, and headed towards Jacksonville. I need my mom even if for most of our relationship I had acted more like she should have had.

Renee had welcomed me with open arms, she questioned me a few times about who Jackson's father was, I never gave her a answer, but it wasn't a hard guess once you looked at him.

I decided to hop in the shower and try to clear my head before Jackson was awake.

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Jackson's birthday passed without any hang ups. He had so much fun. I was grateful that Alice and Angela decided to come along . Renee ended up joining us as well, Phil was away with a game so he couldn't make it.

I looked over at the clock on my night stand noticing it was 10 already. _Shit_! I still have to get little man over to my moms and then meet at the club to head down to Miami. I quickly chucked the heels and bikinis Alice insisted I had to buy for the trip into my luggage, quite frankly I didn't mind wearing heels, I've gotten use to them, I no longer viewed them as a occupational hazard as I once did. And as far as the bikinis I had some say into the ones I picked so the shopping trip wasn't a total lost.

"Little man" I yelled out into the hall. It was just him and I, Alice and Rose had some "last minute" shopping to do so I was going to meet them at the club and then we were going to drive down.

"Jackson Anthony where are you?" I was getting impatient now, I was going to be late and Aro was going to hand me my ass for it.

"Mommy, I'm here" called the sweetest little voice, totally breaking me from me impatience.

I turned and headed towards the bathroom, _what the heck is he doing in there?_ We'd already packed everything for his bag last night and he's been dying to go all morning long.

"Jax what are you doing?" I had to stifle a chuckle as I looked in the doorway. He had Alice's hair gel glopped in his hands and he was trying to smooth down his disheveled hair.

"Mom, it works for Aunt Al why not me!" I sighed, if only he knew, _blame your dad_. "I want it to be flat like everyones, I want it to be like you mom" he explained as he pointed a goopy finger at me.

I moved him forward so I could rinse his hands in the sink "sweet boy, I love your hair the way it is, it's what makes you, you and anyway you don't want girl hair do you?" wrinkling my nose for added affect.

"Ewww no! Mommy, Angela say I will like girls, but I think she wrong, I only like you, grandma, aunt Al, aunt Rose, and Angela, girls are ucky!" he held up his fingers while listing off all the important 'girls' of his life.

I placed a chaste kiss on the top of his head "Well what do you say should we get headed to Grandma's , I know she's wondering where we are right now" before I even finished saying wondering he was out the door Diego backpack in tow.

We made it to Renee's in no time, little man was so excited to play baseball with Phil I had to tackle him to get a hug and kiss goodbye.

I pulled up to the all too familiar club. It was tacky to be truthfully honest. Aro wanted a "roman" feel to it, it had pillars throughout and murals of different landmark Italian architecture smeared along the walls. There were statues of different roman goddesses throughout, deep red fabric hung all over. He even had the audacity to hold a toga night once a month.

As I walked up to the girls I noticed Aro was missing, thank god I beat him.

Alice walked over to me and gave me a hug and linked arms with me while we walked over to the other three girls there.

Aro decided to take five of us. Alice, Rose, Heidi, Jane, and myself. Heidi was nice, she could be weird at times, and she was rumored to have slept with Aro and Marcus. She was medium height-wise and had light brown hair with blonde highlights.

And then there was Jane, I couldn't stand her. She was the newest girl, barely 18. Her bleach blonde hair was cut in a short bob and if it was at all possible she was shorter then Alice. She's a snippy little thing and acted like she knew it all. Sometimes when you tried to talk to her and say something she potentially didn't like she got this look like she was trying to burn you where you stood. She put the saying death glare to shame.

"Why hello my beauties" we heard from behind us. I looked over my shoulder. Aro was strolling up to us with a another guy I didn't really know. I knew he was a bouncer but that was about all that I could remember about him.

Aro and the mystery man strolled into the middle of the loose circle we were standing in. I took in the bouncers appearance, he was hot, he had longer dirty blond hair a scruffy face, and his right arm was covered in tattoos. I licked my lips and bit down on my bottom lip, I looked up and notice he was looking right at me, while I was checking him out.. _great so much for subtlety_. He smirked at me, when all things were considered this had the makings of a long 11 days.

"Ladies this is James, he is going to be joining us as well, he's here to make sure you stay safe, but have fun." at the fun remark James winked at me.. _O boy a very very long 11 days_. I tugged Alice's arm and she rolled her eyes and chuckled.

Aro pointed his slender white finger to the far side of the parking lot. I noticed a huge blue conversion van. "Ladies our chariot awaits. We are all driving down together it's safer that way and makes more sense, give James your bags and he'll throw them in the back."

I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from groaning out loud. All of us crammed into his 'chariot' this really was going to suck.

Aro started to walk back towards the van and I walked over to my car grabbing my luggage out of my trunk and started wheeling it towards, _hell_, um I mean the van. I got about halfway there and someone grabbed the handle of my luggage and stopped it from rolling. I turned to my right and saw James standing there with a shit eating grin.

"Hey sweetheart I got this, you heard Aro" I rolled my eyes, _did he really just call me sweetheart? What is this 1950? _The more time I spent around James and with him standing close to me I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling he seemed to automatically make me feel.

"Um, thanks" I replied before running my hand through my hair and handing him over the pull to my luggage.

"No problem, I wouldn't want you to trip and bust that sweet ass of yours, I've heard you are the clutz, not that I mind, you know what they say about your type.." he pointed his finger at me and was moving it all around. I wanted to yank his finger clean off, something about him defiantly made my hackles rise, especially the more he talked. "Ya'll are better off your feet then on" and with that he winked and strolled off. _Ugh men_!

I flipped him the bird and kept on walking, Alice and Rose appeared next to me with a questioning look. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I didn't want to get into it.

We made it to the van. James was going to drive, Aro took shotgun. Alice, Rose, and I climbed to the back bench, leaving Jane and Heidi the middle. They would make a good divider so I wouldn't have to deal with creepy James or Aro.

Rose sat all the way to the left. We stuck Alice in the middle, by default she's always stuck there because she's the smallest out of the three of us. I was on the right.

Once we got started on the highway Alice asked why I was almost late. I told her about owing her a new bottle of gel and what Jax was trying to do. I also told them about his exclamation about "icky" girls. They were both giggling about it all.

"Hey Bells, I have to ask where does little man get his hair from, granted I know it's your coloring he has, but all those cowlicks? Your hair is nothing like it " I could see Alice was trying to nicely get more out of me about Edward, she was always dying for any little tid-bit she could find out about him.

All I ever really told her or Rose was that we were high school sweethearts, he fucked up I left. The bare balls of what happened that night.

"Jeeze, well um, oh boy, now or never right?" I fidgeted and played with the seam on my pants. I looked over at Alice, her eyes were wide when she realized I was about to tell her, even Rose was looking over Alice's shoulder mouth agape.

I was kind of surprised that I finally felt I was ok to divulge, Miami was going to be a change for me, I had already decided that. I was going to move on and I guess one of the steps of moving on is getting it out in the open, all of it.

"Okay well, yes little man get's that from his father, except his dad's is a copperish color, it was gorgeous really, I bet you can guess where Jackson get's his eyes from too, they obviously aren't from me. He's even picked up his dad's little quirks like pinching the bridge of his nose, tugging at his hair all of that. Which I don't understand any of it, he doesn't even know his name.." I whispered quietly my voice dropping off at the end remembering when I last saw Edward and how badly he hurt me.

I looked up to see Rosalie and Alice in shock mouths open like they were trying to catch flies and eyes semi-glazed over. I snapped my fingers in front of there faces.

"Hello earth to roomies" they both snapped back to reality, Rose slapped her mouth close with a pop.

"Wow, he sounds well, for lack of better words freaking hot! We are going to have to beat the girls off my little man" Alice stated while looking at me.

"Yah, and now you know why I wished I could have tapped the girls are ucky confession." I said laughing "Do you guy's want to know more or.."

Rose cut me off by putting her hand in the air. "I have an idea, I know this all is hard for you, how about each day you tell use something different from back then," I audibly sighed Rose maybe a bitch but she will always have your best interests in mind. "That way you aren't feeling rushed and regret something that you many tell us"

"Rose have I told you I love you today?" she giggled "I know this is going to be hard but I want to do this, you guys just have to give me some time, I think your idea Rose is perfect." they both nodded "Well with that said I'm going to see if I can nod off wake me up when we get there or close"

"Alright Hun, and thank-you, what you told us means a lot" Alice said before putting her arm around me.

I popped my ear buds in and turned on my ipod to random and zoned out till I fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer- I don't own twilight, or any of the characters, unfortunately**

**I should hopefully have a link up on my page of what I envisioned the girls poolside outfits as for this chapter. **

**Mucho Gracias to A Cullen Wannabe who told me how to get this up to you guys since FF has taken a big turd on allowing me to upload! If you haven't checked out her stories I highly recommend, Femme Docs and Kevlar Knights is SUPER!!! Swatward makes my toes curl... in the good way of course lol**

**I hope everyone enjoyed last chapter, it made me a little nervous.. Read, review and enjoy!!**

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"**Stewed, Screwed, and Tattooed"**

I was nudged out of a dreamless sleep by a nearly vibrating Alice, she was so excited. I opened my eyes and slowly noticed we were parked in front of a nice looking hotel. I rolled my head around trying to work out the kinks anyone get's from sleeping in a car.

While rolling my head around I notice I still had my ear buds in and I focused more on the music. I groaned, _please _let this not be a sign of what was to come, All American Rejects, "Gives you hell" was playing in my ears. Quickly I ripped them out of my ears, _oww that hurt_, but it was worth it. The last thing I needed was for this trip to be like hell.

This was going to be the first time I've spent a substantial amount of time away from Jackson, and I was determined to have a good time. Mentally I needed to have a goodtime.

We made our way out of the van and stretched as soon as our feet hit the ground. I looked around to see we had drawn a small crowd, nothing unusual. A older couple by there family van, the husband was starring wide eyed while his wife dragged him into the van. A small group of college guys plastic cups in hand were walking across the parking lot, basically drooling with every step.

By that time Rose had noticed as well, we'd have to get inside or else fend off a small platoon of drunk horny frat boys. "Alright bitches get your asses inside. I need to sleep and we still have to figure out where the hell we are all doing it."

I turned to Rose chuckling at her statement, Alice clapped, and Heidi and Jane simultaneously rolled there eyes and huffed, _immature girls_.

I started towards the door and looked over my shoulder one last time, I noticed the frat platoon turned more into a army. The original guy's were pointing in our direction and enthusiastically recalling our arrival. I rolled my eyes, they were the stereotypical frats loud and obnoxious. Right as I was about to turn my head back around I swear I saw a tuft of copper, moving around among the guys.

I shook my head, I was now officially loosing my mind, mention just a few things about him to my girls and now I'm picturing him everywhere. And really Edward Cullen in Miami, jeez I should get my eyes checked when we get back to Jacksonville.

I always figured him as a Beverly hills vacationer anyway, someone who would go to the country club and pop the collar to his polo shirt. _Well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black_. Who would have ever pictured goody quiet Bella Swan, Forks' police chief's daughter, in Miami on a 'business trip' with her fellow strippers, oh and a three year old boy to tote, with no father in sight, _ha yah _I'm the perfect person to be stereotyping.

I stumbled my way into the lobby tripping in the doorway. Looking around I saw James give me another shit eating grin and a wink. That was defiantly not something I wanted to see, again at that.

Aro motioned us over to a little sitting area on the other side of the lobby. It was a modern looking hotel, everything was white, or a pale color of wood here and there. There was hints of bright blue throughout, it was in vases, a throw on the back of the chair, not oppressive. It seemed light and refreshing.

Aro cleared his throat " All right my girls" I involuntarily shuddered. I still can't stand being called upon as if I'm owned, ever since Edward said my Bella that night. "I have gotten four rooms, my room is on the floor above you all. James I got you a single bed room, you room is 304. Jane and Heidi you'll be rooming next to him, I got you a two bed room, your room is 306. Alice, Rosie, Isabella you'll be across from them in room 305, there is only two beds so you'll have to share, two of you." he said pointing between us with a grin like the Cheshire cat on his face. Rosalie scuffed, Alice giggled, and I could have shit less, we all live together it wasn't a big deal to me.

We made our way to the elevator after we grabbed our luggage, to my excitement the frat army had disbanded. James opted to take the stairs and Heidi and Jane wanted to check out the pool and then go to there room. Alice hit the up button and the elevator slid open with a ding. We all climbed in and Rose pushed the three button.

Once we made it into our room I took notice of how it was decorated. It reminded me a lot of the lobby. It was white, bright, and airy. When you first walked into the room there was a few chairs and a table then next to that was the flat screen T.V and a full sized bed across from that. There were two doorways off of the main room, one was at the end of the room by the windows and it led into a room with a closet and a huge king sized bed. The other doorway was closer to the door out to the hallway and was near the sitting area, it was the bathroom.

Alice chuckled and said that we should take bets and see how many nights we all ended up in the king bed, instead of splitting up.

I walked over to the windows, pulling back the curtain. Finding we had an amazing view of the parking lot, _lovely_. Heidi and Jane must have gotten rooms on the side that faced the pool, _bitches._

I told the girls I was going to go outside and sit by the pool for a little while before I went to sleep. They gave me a slight wave over their shoulders, they were too occupied with sorting and hanging up our clothes so that they weren't wrinkled when we decided to wear them.

As I made my way through the halls I could tell the hotel was buzzing with life and packed, even for a Thursday. I could almost guarantee it's going to be a mad house this weekend, I felt bad for any family trying to vacation here with their kids.

I shuffled my way through the lobby and made my way out to the pool, once out there I decided to plop myself on one of the lounging chairs there. I fished my phone out of my pocket and made sure I didn't have any missed calls. I didn't, and I sat there debating between calling Jackson or waiting until tomorrow. I finally resolved to just call him tomorrow, he prolly didn't even notice I was gone yet, he was to busy playing and having fun.

Sitting in silence my mind started to wander.. Bronze, copper hair is common, _right_? I mean out of all my time at the club I could remember at least one time someone had came in with similar hair color,_ couldn't I_? Oh, Jesus this trip is suppose to be about letting go, forgetting, moving on from him. I didn't need to sit by a pool in Miami wasting time on his worthless ass, debating whether he was here or not. The chances of us actually being in the same city was very unlikely, and I was letting my imagination run wild.

I heard some people approaching from the other entrance and I took that as my exit queue, I needed to sleep anyways.

Once I made my way back into the room I noticed Alice and Rosalie passed out in the king sized bed. I didn't mind sleeping in the full sized bed it was as big as the one I had at home. I looked back out of the room to where the full bed was and noticed it was covered in hangers on one end, shoes sprawled everywhere on the other.

Chuckling I climbed into bed with Rose and Alice, clicking off the light I decided I'm never betting against Alice.

__________________________

I woke up groaning covering my eyes from the bright sun shining through, I rolled over and noticed I was the only one left in the bed. Sitting up I could hear the shower running, which covered for one of them. I stood up and made my way out of the room and saw Rose downing some coffee and fruit salad there was a whole spread of breakfast food on the table.

I stood up on the balls of my feet and stretched, then made my way toward Rosalie and the table full of breakfast food. Looking over towards the TV I noticed the cable box was saying that it was 11:30, it felt good to sleep in once. Running my hands through my hair I sat down with Rose.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" I asked while grabbing a cheese danish from the table and pulling pieces from it to eat.

"Well let's see, we are suppose to go by the pool this afternoon around one and 'relax'", her air quotes around relax made me laugh, we both knew what Aro meant when he'd told us to do that, he wanted to see how many guys we could attract and possibly talk into coming up to Jacksonville to be future customers. "Oh, and then he said something about taking us out to eat at some sushi restaurant and meeting his brother," shaking her head and laughing, we knew this trip was turning into a big joke. Aro basically wanted to see how we compared to his brother and his girls, but his brother was unwilling to go up to Volterra so we had to go to him.

"AndAlicehasclaimedstakeingettingyoureadyforbothtoday," she tried to breath all that out after laughing because she knew how I usually took to Alice and her making me into a Barbie. I usually freaked, I didn't like be made up all nice, especially considering I had no one to look nice for. But I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and why not add this to the list of things to make for a better, newer Bella, _Bella 2.0_.

"Ok, when is she starting? I might have a few recommendations" Rose stared at me wide eyed like I had sprouted a new head " What? Why is it so hard to believe I might actually want to get girly-uped for once, I'm starting over, why not start there?" I heard the bathroom door squeak open and saw Alice standing there with a towel wrapped around her and her right hand clasped over her mouth.

"Well, I think you just made Tinkerbell's year with that statement, Izzy." Rose motioned with her thumb over towards Alice and held up for her hand for me to high five, I did.

"Please, please for the love of all that we hold holy, tell me I didn't misunderstand you." _ahhh finally the stunned pixie speaks_.

I looked over to her chuckling "Nope" I said popping the p when I said it. I backed up towards the bed and flopped down with theatrics "Have you way with me Alice, I'm dying to see how I end up."

A hour and half later we were closing in rapidly on one. I looked myself over in the mirror one last time before deciding, I really didn't look half bad. I'd talked Alice into letting me wear a pink Ed Hardy bikini, and she paired it with a black hoodie. It had a tattoo flash pattern all over it, it matched the bathing suit perfectly. I had on a pair of black heels, and my hair was done in loose long curls. Alice even managed to talk me into clipping in a few hot pink and blond streak extensions into my hair. She did my makeup in a very dark smoky black on my eyes and a pale pink sheen on my lips. She and Rose coined how I looked as "feminine rocker".

I looked across the room and found Alice in a adorable one piece suit that was bright blue, it looked like a old vintage suit, she even had a huge cream colored flower head band to go with it. She was wearing an awesome pair of peep toe sandals that had a wedge heel. She was twirling her oversized matching blue sunglasses in her hand.

Rose had decided to wear a black bathing suit that was one piece but had a huge slit down the front and from the back it looked as if she was wearing a two piece suit. Her golden locks were down and she was mulling over shoes when I glanced at the clock, _crap,_ after one.

I went to the table and grabbed my cell and aviator sunglasses. I popped my phone and room key in the pocket of the hoodie, and slid my sunglasses on, I didn't care if we were inside or not, I had a bad ass persona to fill today.

There was a impatient knock at the door and I smirked, marching over to open it. I liked feeling bad ass, kicking ass and taken names _woo me_! I thought as I swung the door open.

Heidi was standing there in a black t-shirt with white writing that said, "Real Men Date Strippers" and a pair of cut-off shorts and flip flops, I rolled my eyes. She didn't look like she belonged here at all. I noticed mini Jane poking her head around trying to look in the door, she was wearing a basic boring purple string bikini with flip flops and a towel slung over her arm.

Ha, these newbies actually thought that Aro wanted us to 'relax', I wonder what they had thought when he said "business trip" not come on ladies we are all going on vacation.

"Aro said you guy's have five minutes, he called our room and told us he's in the lobby waiting" Heidi looked down and pointed at her wrist, like there was a freaking watch there, these girls were turning out to be a joke.

"Fine, fine" I mumbled before turning in the doorway to see how the other two were coming along. "You guys ready to go? We've got five minutes, Aro's waiting" I said laughing.

"Ya I found the shoes I wanted to wear, we are coming let me grab my room key" Rose said while rummaging through the disaster zone that was our room, when it got to that state I'd never know.

"Dude, Rose I've got mine, and furthermore where u ganna keep it in that suit?" I said mocking her as she looked up and stuck her tongue out "And anyway we don't want to make Aro mad" I exclaimed mocking horror and what not, he would most likely be more pissed off at the way the fresh meat dressed not at us for being a few minutes late.

Rose and Alice appeared behind me in the doorway "Well lets go bitches boss man is not ganna wait much longer" quipped Rose. Alice and I chuckled we loved when she called us bitches, we knew it was solely to get a rise out of Jane and Heidi.

Frick and frack made there way down the hall in a huff, flip flopping there way to the elevator. Alice just about had a coronary when she saw what they were wearing. We got into the elevator and she leaned over to me and whispered "And I thought you were bad, holy shit!"

I had to put up my hood to try to stop from laughing out loud. Alice moved herself in front of me and started to un-tuck my curls from my hood mumbling something about how she was surprised I thought to put it up and how much better it looked up. I whispered in her ear "I love you" she responded by chuckling back, "I know" . Just then the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

Heidi and Jane rushed over to Aro, who was in the lounge area, while we strolled over. We had a pretty good idea what his 'talk' would include it'd be a pep talking reminding us who owned who and what we were to do.

Once we made our way over to the three of them we could make out what sounded like Aro chastising them for there choice of outfits, even though he found Heidi's shirt 'cute', it was still considered inappropriate.

"Alright ladies, since we are all here now I'd like to discuss what I hope for you to achieve this afternoon" I elbowed Rose as we both noticed the now defeated and slouched shoulders of Jane and Heidi. "I expect you all to go out there and have fun, maybe get a few guys interested, tell them where your from and see if you can make them make a road trip."

I felt like freaking saluting and yelling out aye sir. "There is a large group of what I assume to be frat boys out there, they might be your best first shot, James will check on you all periodically and make sure that you all are safe, I unfortunately won't be joining you I have some things to work out before dinner tonight. Ciao beauties, do me proud!" he went towards us and placed chaste kisses on our cheeks before parting ways.

We made our way out to the pool, we wanted to make sure we walked past the frat crowd, and see if we could get any people interested. We sauntered our way over to where they had taken residence on some pool chairs and lounge chairs we were almost to them.

The pool was on the left side and the herd of frat boys to the right. Heidi and Jane were in front of Alice and Rose. And they were walking side by side behind them and I was bringing up the rear.

We heard a few cat calls and hoots and hollers from the crowd I smirked, _gotcha boys right where we wanted ya_. Heidi and Jane kept on walking and then two of the guys stepped out in front of them, effectively stopping our train.

"ah, ah, ahhhh, what's the magic word to let you passss?" the blond one menaced, making it sound like he was the troll from under a bridge in a fairy tale. I looked over to my right and saw about eight frat boys flung over chairs, and on the ground on towels. There were a few of them standing in a semi circle chanting and pumping their fists. I looked to see what all the commotion was about and almost fell into the pool.

There stood a guy, with dark black hair, blue swim trunks and huge muscles. His right hand grasping onto a plastic hose jammed into a funnel. I followed my eyes up the tube to see a slightly shorter blond with crazy messy hair wearing green and white trunks holding the funnel and pouring beer after beer in.

I was snapped out of my déjà vu moment when a sharp little elbow, belonging to Alice, broke a few of my ribs. I saw the dark hair kid standing next to the 'troll wannabe' who was our blockade reach up and tug at Heidi's shirt, _yup I'm going to be committing murder today._ "Soooo, you girls 'dancers'? " his air quotes made me want to puke. It was also official that once I could get my hands on Heidi I planned on hanging her with that trailer park shirt.

Now because of the dark haired ones comments all eyes were on us. The guy who was part bear, and originally chugging from the beer bong made his way towards us, _god he looks familiar, way way too familiar._ And then I heard the slight southern drawl from the blond, and I knew exactly who they were Jasper and Emmett.

"What the fuck are you doing Crowley, Newton, let the ladies pass" Jasper told his goons off, and then turned to wink at us. I swear I saw Alice's knees quake.

Emmett and Jasper took over the spots that Crowley and Newton had held and moved there arms to the side like they were ushering us to some ball. I rolled my eyes as I walked by, this was all becoming a little too freaking ironic.

Of course the girls with the given mission of mingle with the frat decided to take up the seats right next to them. I plopped my pissed off ass down in the seat furthest away from them and closest to the bar, _liquid courage_, I could do this. I turned to see Emmett and Jasper making there way over to the lounge that Rose and Alice were sharing. Heidi and Jane decided to swim.

"Hello ladies my name is Emmett and this is my side kick for all intents and purposes Jasper" that little comment earned him a swift punch in the arm by Jasper. "Come on man you know you are so the Robin to my Batman" _ugh yep, I'm ganna puke … so much for bad ass Bella._

"Dude, shut the hell up!" drawled an exasperated Jasper, he looked over to the three of us. " Look, we just wanted to apologize for our retarded bros, they don't know how to handle there alcohol."

"or the ladies for that matter" quipped a wiggling eye brow Emmett.

Alice and Rose giggled, I was to busy trying to keep down the danish I had for breakfast to do anything other than swallow.

"I'm Alice and this is Rose" she said shoving her finger towards Rosalie, _damn you pixie damn you to hell._ "oh and our little rocker over there is B.."

"Izzy" I said quickly shoving my hand in the air and looking for the quickest escape. The last thing I need was for Alice to say Bella and for them to potentially remember me, they looked damn near the same, bigger but that was about it.

"So where ya'll from darling?" Jasper asked looking straight at Alice.

"Uh, we are from ah Jacksonville, it's ah it's um upstate from here." I looked over to see she was blushing, the unsinkable miss molly was blushing!

"Where are you guys from? Florida?" Rose asked, saving Alice from seeming dumb, but kept the conversation going, a negative for me.

"Georgia state, I play ball up there and this fucker studies old shit or something like that" Emmett added, punching Jasper in the arm.

"Are you originally from Georgia? I mean you don't sound it, but stranger things have happened." _oh Rose you have no clue how fucking true that statement is_ and with that question she opened the can of worms.

"Ha, no we are originally from a iddy biddy town named Forks. It's in Washington on the other side of the country" _thank you Emmett would you like to tell us the longitude and latitude as well or maybe pull out a map and point out where my FATHER'S freaking house is!_

"Oh that's cute! Hey wait a minute" _no no no no, Alice don't put it together don't, please. _I have to run, think of something come on… "Aren't you from Spoon's or something? I thought I remembered you telling us you were from some sort of utensil named town like that too." Alice looked at me deep in thought her finger on her chin, trying to remember where I told her I was from, I had to think fast.

"Haha, yup your right Alice! I'm from spoons, and now if you don't mind me I need a freaking drink. Forks boys it was nice to meet you maybe next time we can bump into each other at a town named Napkin or something like that" I quickly hopped up and spun on my heel stalking towards the bar, I reached in my pocket and grabbed my phone, I needed to call little man, he was my last shred of sanity in this fucked up twilight zone. I found a nice quiet corner adjacent to the bar.

Right as I was about to dial my phone a long finger gently reached towards me and glided their finger tip across the J pendant hanging from my neck. A smooth as glass voice whispered in my ear "Hmmm from this I'd like to guess your name is Jessica?"

I was left in a puddle, trying to soak myself back into a human life form. The voice had completely melted me. And then I looked up and locked eyes with the most brilliant green orbs I've seen in three years.

It was official I was unconditionally and irrevocably screwed.

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**Please don't hate on the cliffy! Review and let me know what you think, I'm begging lol I won't how ever withhold a chapter until I get a certain amount of reviews, I'm not that mean lol**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer- I don't own twilight or the characters.. Yada yada same dealio as before**

**Author's note- hope you all are enjoy the story so far!!! Sorry for the cliffy, the writing god's made me do it**

**Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed!! I was beyond flabbergasted!!! I believe I responded back to all of you, if I didn't please let me know!**

**__________________________________________________________________**

"Confessions"

Oh please, please let my alarm go off, my son come in and scream the boogey man ate his underwear, anything to tell me I'm freaking dreaming here! I pinched my arm just to make sure, it hurt, obviously I was awake, _shit_.

I stared back at the face of a god thanking my lucky stars I still had my sunglasses on or else he would have seen my eyes tear up, waiting to spill over. I purposely avoided him for this long, avoiding him meant I didn't have to recognize my feelings, I could ignore the gapping hole I felt in my chest without him with me. Without him around I wasn't reminded of what I was missing, and what my son was missing. But now everything that I was trying to avoid was right in front of me, there was no way to miss it.

I took a shaky breath and stood up taller, claiming back my personal space I couldn't let him have that kind of control over me. And I especially couldn't let him know who I was or that we had a history. "Nope, your way off my name doesn't even start with a J." I successfully quipped back at him leaving him looking effectively stunned.

He still looked the same. His hair was still the copper disheveled mess I remembered and his eyes were still the same piercing green they had always been. He was a bit taller now probably around 6' 4, almost a good foot taller then me. He looked muscular, more so then he use to. I noticed he had a few random tattoos, I didn't really study them. And then I noticed the one over his heart that made mine break. It was written in what looked like broken scrawl and it said Bella, the tail on the letter a carried on for a little looking jagged and then broke off.

He must have noticed my head was directed down and looking at it for a while, he cleared his throat, tugging at his hair. I looked back up to him my mouth parted in shock. He ran his hand over it, over my name "Ah, ya that it's a reminder to myself, you don't know what you really got till it's gone."

My mouth tried to form words but I found it to be impossible, was he really hurting that badly that he was willing to tattoo himself? Permanently marking right over his heart with my name of all things. I was supposed to be the one hurt not him, he cheated not me.

My cell buzzing along in my pocket brought me out of my revere. "Hello?" I answered without even looking, _smart not even five minutes around him and I'm already stupid, great._

"Hey Mommy" _oh thank god_, that boy must be able read my mind long distance.

"What's cookin' good lookin'" he loved when I say that to him and it also got Edward to raise eyebrows, _ha take that!_

"Grandma made me come inside and stop playing to talk…"

"Oh, well you can go play baseball, look call me tomorrow ok?"

"Ahhhh, thank mommy I lub you MWAH"

"Haha, I'll talk to you tomorrow, I love you and miss you" Before I had even said the you of miss you he'd hung up, that kid was defiantly impatient.

I looked up into the very questioning eyes of Edward. "Boyfriend huh? Is that what the J is for, for him?"

Edward seemed like he wanted to ask more but refrained, "The J's for him" I held up the phone to prove the point that who I was talking to was the one for the necklace. I didn't want to lie to him and tell him I had a boyfriend, but I also didn't want him to think I was on the market either. "He's the most important and the only guy in my life" _it wasn't a complete lie._

Edward looked down to me with an expression that would have reflected if I had just kicked his dog.

"Oh, so what's the luck man's name? Josh, Jason?" I didn't see why it was important to him, as far as he knew I was just a girl hiding beside the bar.

"His name is Jackson, Jackson Anthony" making sure I added the middle name, I wanted to see what his response was.

When I had Jackson he reminded me so much of Edward that I felt compelled to at least put some part of his fathers name with him, it only seemed right. I had decided to use Edwards' middle name, it seemed relatively harmless.

"Huh, Anthony, that's the same middle name as me.." he commented while running a hand through his hair and slightly tugging at it. He seemed truly perplexed by everything, poor guy if only he knew he wasn't a boyfriend and actually our son.

"And do you have a first name? Or do you just go by a middle name?" I asked jokingly, knowing very well who he was but I had to keep up pretenses.

"Oh shit um ya, Edward." he reached out his hand for me to take it, I grabbed it lightly, still feeling the tingling sensation his skin always caused when it touched mine. He pulled his hand back quickly as if he had been burnt. I just hope he would figure this all to be a fluke not what it actually was.

"Well I've got to go back over to where my friends are sitting, they are probably going nuts wondering where I am" giving a slight wave I started to walk quickly away from him.

Walking my way around the edge of the pool I was trying to come up with a way to con Alice and Rosalie into getting ready for dinner early,_ way early._

Rounding the corner of the pool where we were sitting I saw Alice had moved over to the chair I was in and Jasper was with her. Rose and Emmett were sprawled across the lounge next to them.

"Ah Alice, Rose sorry to interrupt but I have a slight issue" they both looked at me questioningly but obliged standing, making there way towards me. We started to walk towards the bathroom when I heard Edward's voice yell out for me to wait. Alice and Rose looked over there shoulders and turned back to look at me, mouths wide open.

"Wait, wait he looks exactly like Jax" muttered a confused Alice. And then at that moment two light bulbs turned on over them.

"Exactly why I need to talk to you NOW!" I growled, giving them a quick shove into the bathroom.

After checking and making sure it was empty Alice and Rose were begging to hear what the hell was going on. And why a bigger copper haired version of Jackson was chasing after me.

I spilled it all to them, how Edward and I dated from sophomore year, when I went to find him after I took the pregnancy test and then in turn finding him all over Tanya. I told them how I ran and made a promise to avoid him at all costs, I even told them about the new tattoo he had, a declaration to what he had lost. I told them everything, every last bit. And god did it feel good! I should have done it years ago when I met them, I may not be in the mess I currently am in.

Releasing a shaky breath I looked up and saw Rosalie and Alice staring at me bewildered, like I had told them vampires were real and I was one. A knock on the bathroom door made all of our heads snap in the direction of it.

"Oh ladies, Heidi and Jane tells me the three of you rushed in here, now either you guys come out or I'm coming in to join you.." James menacing voice called out from the other side of the door. I shuddered, Rose and Alice seemed to be snapped back to reality like James' voice was smelling salts.

Standing up I made my way over to the door, the last thing we needed was James in here, I could only imagine how that would turn out. A hand grabbed my elbow before I had a chance to pull the door open, I turned to see Rose had grabbed me.

"Look we will keep your secret, we won't let him know who you are or about Jax, but you have got to act like he's nothing other than a regular guy, or else he might figure it out." Alice said to me with more compassion and conviction than I had ever seen her have towards anyone.

Nodding, I accepted, I totally understood what Alice was saying, I'd have to play along with the boys if I wanted Jax to remain a secret. I'd do my part and hope that none of the guys would realize who I really was.

We all nodded our heads, knowing what we had to do. Hopefully they were only here for the weekend, a few days I could manage that.

Making our way to the door Alice gave it a tug open and we were met with James' form. "Well, well ladies I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed that you didn't let me in for some fun" he commented, making my skin crawl again. "but you've come out so I think its best you guys go back over to the frat losers and mingle like Aro said."

As we made our way past him he made a move to slap my ass, but I stepped quicker and he managed to miss. Looking over my shoulder I peeked my eyes out of the top of my sunglasses and flipped him the bird, _it seemed to be a trend_.

Making our way over to the boys I sat down on the lounge furthest from them, Alice and Rose sat at the foot, turning towards Jasper and Emmett. They broke off from the group and sat across from them on the other lounge. I had faintly remembered music playing when we were out here before but now it was louder.

"So ladies you told us a little about yourselves and that you guys are all roomies, how about your third roommate what's she into?" suppressing the urge to yell out anything but you losers. I looked over at Jasper, right as I was to open my mouth I turned and heard Alice squeal.

".god! I love this song Rose dance with me, pretty please?" Alice begged Rose with her bottom lip pouting out. Pulling Rose up to dance with her by the pool I realized what she was trying to do. Distract dumb and dumber with their swiveling hips. I sighed, _god I really really owe them now._

I leaned back on the lounge and chuckled as I saw Emmett and Jasper shifting uncomfortably in there trunks, obviously trying to hide the swimwear tents they were now sporting while watching Rosalie and Alice dance together.

"So, mystery girl why aren't you dancing with your friends? What is it you do anyway? Are you ever going to tell me your name or.." _holy twenty one questions_. Edward was crouched by the lounge, waiting to spring on the next thing I said. I held up my finger to his lips.

"Slow down that train there cowboy one question at a time, and anyways I thought guys liked a little mystery when it came to girls." It was hard resisting the urge to run my hands through his soft mess called hair, but I fought it. Pulling my finger back and playing with the ends of my own curls so that he could choose one question to ask.

"Cowboy? That's a new one," he replied still seeming slightly stunned that I had been so brass as to touch his lips. "Ok so I'll slow down um, what is it you and your friends do? Where do you guys go to school?" he said motioning towards Alice and Rose.

At that moment Rose and Alice noticed who was sitting next to me, they looked panicked, but I was pretty sure I had this under control so I threw them a quick thumbs up. "Well let's see we dance, we are from Jacksonville, and I don't have the time to go to school, yet at least."

His mouth sat a little parted at the admission I had just made, and he lightly stroked the tattoo over his heart. I prayed that he didn't ask if I knew any minor league baseball players named Phil who happened to be married to a Renee and have a daughter named Isabella. I took a big chance telling him where I was from but I figured it would go over better if I told him instead of the guys telling him.

"Hm, dance? As in for money and tips you know…" he held up his hand and motioned forward, like he was afraid to say stripper, like it would burn his pristine image, _ha what a joke that is_!

"Yup, we strip." _s-t-r-i-p-p-e-r say it with me Edward, I know your not that goodie goodie._ "The money isn't half bad. I'm surprised frick and frack over there didn't tell you already." If only he knew the main reason I do what I do is for my little man, well technically our little man.

Alice and Rose were done dancing by now, they headed over to the lounge that I was sitting on and took up residence again at the foot of it. "Phew, that was a work out!" Rose complained while dramatically fanning herself.

I laughed and rolled my eyes, that wasn't a work out at all it was no different than what we usually do on a nightly bases, actually it was less then usual. Obviously the real reason they came over was to make sure I didn't slip up and that none of the guys got suspicious.

"I know a way to build up your stamina.." Emmett stated while winking at Rose. He was lucky that we were in public and she couldn't haul off and slug him.

Rose didn't take shit from anyone especially from guy's who would get mouthy with her. She once gave a huge biker guy who came into the club and didn't follow the rules a black eye and shoved him away before the bouncers even had a chance to notice something was going on.

"Don't you worry about her stamina Hulk, that's why she's got us." Alice snapped back at Emmett. All three of the guy's mouths hit the floor and you could clearly see the whites of their eyes.

Rose was the brute force, Alice was the one with the mouth, she would make come backs that would make a sailor blush and leave you standing there wondering what the hell just happened.

"Ah, my bitches, I knew there was a reason I keep you around." Rose responded while giggling. The three of us girls were laughing hard now, the guys still looked shell shocked.

"Who are you?" Rose asked Edward while waving her hand in front of his face.

"Edward" he quickly popped his hand up and gave a slight wave back and forth.

"He's the smarts of our trifecta." added Emmett. _Trifecta? When did he read the dictionary_?

Edward looked over to him. He had the crooked grin on his face that made my heart splutter and stutter.

"Trifecta? I'm impressed Em, seems your scholarships weren't a complete waste." We were all cracking up while Emmett sat there in a huff, arms crossed in front of himself pouting exactly how Jax does when he couldn't get something that he wanted.

"Good one" added Jasper as he reached over and fist bumped Edward.

All of a sudden "Bust a Move" came on and the three of them stood up and started dancing the dance from "Grind". _The three stooges_, never a dull moment. Alice was holding her sides giggling hard. And Rose was hooting and hollering at there display. It would have been fun for me too, if it was the first time I saw them do it.

They had done the same thing at the senior prom. I had to smile watching them, it reminded me of a different time, a time when I had Edward and I was in a state of bliss, an easier time.

The three of them came back over to sit down across from us. We were applauding there display, Jasper winked and Edward has a crooked grin splayed across his face. I had to giggle when I saw how Emmett looked. He was huffing like he had just done a 5K marathon panting and wiping at his brow.

"So bear man let me get this right. You're willing to help Rose with her stamina and you can't even last a song?" I said while pointing a finger at him. Everyone was laughing "Try doing it in heels on a stage and then we will talk." Alice and Rose were laughing hysterically.

"Shut it Spoons!" Emmett tried to snap back, acting like he was actually upset, but I knew better he was one of the people who could take a joke the best.

"Hey, hey no name calling, it was merely an observation." I replied finding it quite funny he referred to me by my made up town name.

"Spoons? Who the fuck refers to people as Spoons?" Edward looked over to Emmet with a grin. "I'd like to retract my previously made statement about college doing him some educational favors." Edward stated holding hands up trying to prove his innocence.

"Shut up" Emmett quipped before smacking the back of Edwards head, "I called her Spoons cuz that's where she's originally from, if you weren't off pouting by the bar you would have heard the conversation"

"Ya, and if I wasn't over there pouting as you so eloquently put it I wouldn't have bumped into her either!" Edward was starting to get pissed I could tell. His face had a slight tint of red to it. Whenever he got embarrassed or angry it'd always happen.

He reached behind Jasper and returned the thwap he had received from Emmett. _Oh, boy here we go_, with that Emmett reached across Jasper and punched Edward's side. Jasper tried to pull them apart but ended up getting tangled with them and they all rolled off of the lounge wrestling next to us laughing, _stereotypical guys_.

"Are they always like this?" Rose whispered to me, all I could do was nod my head, this was a perfect example of my time in Forks.

"You should be awarded sainthood for dealing with that.." Alice whispered while pointing at the tangled ball they had become.

"Uhm," us three girls looked over towards the pool to see James standing there clearing his throat looking at the guys on the ground. The ball of humans stopped wrestling and looked up as well. Jasper looked skeptically at James and Emmett looked like he was about to tackle James and shove him into the pool. "Girls, it's getting late and I know how long it takes you all to get ready." _thanks James I was actually having fun._

Alice and Rose groaned standing up they were obviously enjoying their time with them as well. While giving the guys a slight wave making there way towards James. I stood up rolling my shoulder and started walking towards him when a hand grabbed mine stopping me from proceeding. I knew from the tingling sensation radiating out from my palm who it was.

"Wait, when can I see you again?" I looked over my shoulder to see Edward looking at me with a heart breaking stare, he looked like he was going to cry.

"We will be around." And I left it at that gently slipping my hand from his making my way towards James.

Once I was standing next to him he slung his arm over my shoulders and pressed his forehead to my head. "You know you don't have to baby sit those boys." I looked over towards him, _what the hell was he talking about?_ Right before I was about to question him he continued "Boys like that are so below you, you need a real man."

We were almost to the door to go back inside. I shrugged my shoulders knocking his arm off of me. "Ha, right James, if you find any send them my way." I said while backing myself through the door into the hotel.

As the door swung close and he was standing there I swear I heard him mumble something like I already have, but I couldn't tell.

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**If you want to see what the little dance looks like you can search it on you tube, just search Grind bust a move dance. It should come up, hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Review pretty please let me know what you think.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own twilight or the character.. I'm just simply having fun with the. **

**A.N- I have to give big mad props to my new beta, A Cullen Wannabe. She read over this and fixed my shotty grammar, thank you!!! Hope everyone is still enjoying the story! Read and Review **

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"Sake Confessional"

Alice got us all ready in record time for our dinner meeting. We had actually spent more time down by the pool then we wanted to but none of us were complaining. I think Alice and Rose really liked hanging out with all of them and the fact that Emmett got away with talking perverted to Rose and all she did was blush spoke volumes. And Jasper making Alice shudder with just one word wasn't something to fly under the radar either.

Alice dressed me in a blue bubble dress with strappy black heels. Alice was wearing a two toned satin dress. Rose decided on a wearing a little red number with white shoes.

I was walking around the room picking up random things as I went, attempting to restore order to the disaster zone known as our room.

"You know Bella, I really have to wonder what the chances are of someone else ending up in the situation we are all in?" Alice called out from the bathroom while putting last minute touches to her makeup, _again._

"I would have to assume slim to none if I was to throw an educated guess out there." I responded while picking up a can of aerosol cheese, _what the fuck?_ Looking around the room I found Rose and held it up, she shrugged.

"Shut up, I was hungry."

"Only you could eat this shit and still look like you do." I said laughing shaking my head.

There was a quick knock on the door and I head over towards it chucking the can o' cheese onto the table before I got to the door.

"Yes?" I asked while pulling the door open, I knew it would most likely be Heidi or Jane reminding us of the time on their invisible watches.

But I was wrong, there stood James in a black button down shirt, the sleeves rolled up exposing his arms, the right arm nothing but tattooed skin. He was wearing dark washed jeans and he had a flower in his left hand.

He must have thought I was checking him out he had a smug smile on his face. In actuality I was just surprised to see him at the door and in something else other then a t-shirt. I honestly didn't think he owned anything else.

"Here, I found this for you. Thought you might like it." James thrust the rose towards me, shoving it into my hand.

"Um, thanks," I responded. I felt a sharp prick and a warm liquid spread down my hand. I looked down to see one of the thorns cut my hand. _He wasn't kidding when he said he found it,_ he must have plucked it from the landscaping or some poor old ladies bush.

"Oh, shit!" I held up my hand looking at the crimson liquid seeping to the surface and running down my hand.

James grabbed my hand and started to move it towards his face. Within his eyes there was a glint of amazement and excitement. His tongue quickly darted out and he licked his lips. _Jesus, what a freak._

I tugged my hand from him slowly backing away back into the room. I slammed the door shut and stumbled my way into the bathroom, pushing Alice away from the sink and started the tap.

"You are so lucky you didn't... Hey what the hell happened to your hand?" Alice questioned finally getting over the initial shock of me shoving her while she was doing her mascara for the tenth time.

"I don't know, James brought me a rose and it still had the thorns, it cut my hand I guess." I grabbed a towel and held it to the gash applying pressure.

"Huh? What do you two want?" Rose appeared in the doorway thinking that we were asking for her.

"Nothing Rosalie, we were talking about a rose James gave Bella and it cut her hand open." Alice responded for us.

My mouth was suddenly dry and felt as if I had had nothing but sand to drink or eat for the past few days. My mind was running wild trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

"He's a weirdo. Hey Bells, you feel ok? You look kind of pale," Rose said noticing my sudden paleness.

In all my time with Jackson I had gotten over my aversion to blood. It was hard to be squeamish around blood when you have a son who loves to play outside. It wasn't the blood that left me drained and clammy, it was James. " No, yes, I mean I don't know. When I realized I was bleeding James acted weird I guess. I don't know he's just strange and gives me the creeps, this all just added to it."

I was stumbling over my words. My mind was still occupied trying to figure out what the hell just happened out in the hall. Was he really that much of a freak that he was going to lick my hand, or took pleasure in my bleeding?

From the moment James winked his stupid little eye at me I knew he was off, but was he really that off?

There came another knock on the door and I groaned. The last thing I wanted to see was James. "I'll get it," Rose offered and rushed out of the bathroom.

I heard the door pop open and three different muffled girl's voices. Breathing out a sigh of relief I realized that it wasn't James who was out there. Tossing the bloodied towel into the sink I decided to go see why Heidi and Jane were at the door. Alice linked arms with me and we started on our way towards them.

"Look, give us a minute and stop fucking freaking out; we will be down there in enough time." Rose was trying to buy me some extra time to calm myself down and get ready to face James and Aro while trying to eat, and not share it with the rest of the table _again_.

She had her hands clenched into fists while yelling at Heidi; Jane had that look on her face like she was trying to kill you with just her eyes. "What short stuff? Didn't like what I just said? Well freaking deal with it!" Jane turned and stalked off down the hall, obviously tired of what Rose was saying.

"You look like you have a shit stuck sideways anyway when you make that stupid face!' Rosalie yelled after her, I couldn't help but chuckle; she pegged her to a tee.

At times Rosalie reminded me of a pit-bull, she was loyal to family and friends as long as the day was, but if you tried to say or do anything bad to someone she viewed as close she'd attack. Regardless of who you are and where she was.

I walked up behind her and put my hand on her shoulder. She was too pissed to even notice that Alice and I were standing right behind her. "Hey, we are good to go."

She turned around and looked at us mouthing 'are you ok?' I nodded. I really wasn't, but there really wasn't anyway to make it better. I was left with no other option than to just carry on and ignore what had just happened. Maybe it was all just a weird fluke thing. And furthermore I had bigger fish to fry than worrying about James and his weird tendencies.

We made our way to the elevator; Jane was already standing there waiting for the doors to open. The elevator dinged and we all looked expectantly at the doors. Jasper, Emmett, and Edward piled out, laughing with each other. I quickly turned my head taking a sudden interest in the fake plant by the wall.

"Ahhh, ladies it's nice bumping into you all again." Emmett said while walking out turning around to talk to us. I rushed into the elevator and hid behind the panel with all of the buttons.

Granted we had all just talked and hung out by the pool and had an amazing time, but I didn't know if they'd be able to recognize me, especially without sunglasses on. Over the years I didn't think I changed much physically, _but really who did._

The rest of the girls shuffled into the elevator. When the doors closed, Alice wiped at her forehead like she had been sweating bullets or something.

"Hmm, I like those boys specially the bronze haired one. I'd like to give it a good tug." Jane looked to all of us and winked. I gripped the railing of the elevator so hard I was sure my knuckles were pure white.

"What do you think Heidi? I think we should look for their room when we get back. They are obviously on the same floor as we are." Heidi just smiled and nodded her head.

I was furious, not that I had any right to stake a claim to any of them, but they were still my boys from way back, my Edward. _Holy shit did I just think that?_ He's a piece of shit and I'm better off without him! I've survived this long without him I can still do it..

"Over my dead fucking body!" Alice damn near screamed.

I snapped my head up to see Rose basically frothing at the mouth she was so pissed off. Jane looked taken aback by Rose's actions and Alice's comment. Just then the elevator stopped and opened up. We all piled out, Heidi and Jane still seemed shell shocked. Rose and Alice still looked as if they were rabid but trying to get it under control before we had to meet up with Aro.

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Stumbling back into the hotel we returned from the restaurant. It was basically all business between Aro and his brother. They decided that on Thursday we could dance if we wanted to at his club. 'A change of pace' as Aro put it, either way it meant more money especially considering where we were.

Alice had decided some time during dinner that tonight it would be a good idea to have an old school sleep over. Painting nails, listening to stupid girl power music, everything that pre-teen girls did. I agreed, blaming it on the massive amounts of sake bombs I had consumed, I need a way to forget all the drama from earlier between James and Edward, drinking was the least I could do to help alleviate my mind.

We got out of our dresses and got into pajamas. I was wearing a razor back tank top and capri sweats. Alice had decided on an oversized t-shirt she stole from a ex boyfriend of hers. Rose, trying to be the classy bitch she is, decided to wear a silk tank and short set.

"Ok, let's do this!" Alice exclaimed while jumping up and down on the bed, spice girls blaring throughout the room. She plopped down on the bed bouncing after she landed. "We should ask each other questions!" Rose hopped up on the bed and I followed, we were all sitting facing each other.

"Who was each of yours firsts?" Alice questioned looking between each of us raising an eyebrow at us. We were all definitely drunk.

"Um, Edward...we were about to start our Junior year of high school." My mind slowly started to wander back to then, I'd never forget it, even if I was drunk.

We had just gotten done swimming in his parents' pool. They were out of town, so I spent the weekend at his house telling Charlie I was staying at Jessica's house. We had done everything with each other except for sex up until that weekend. Our first time was extremely awkward and painful and I think we had spent most of the time laughing. But we both got better as time went on _much better_, my body shuddered thinking of the last few times I had been with him before I left.

"Mine was Royce, he was a fuckin' prick." Rose added clenching her fists. Seeing that she was upset by mentioning him we didn't want to intrude.

"My turn, um let's see... What do you guys think about the boys?" I really wanted to know what they thought of them. It was two huge separate parts of my life meeting, and furthermore they seemed absolutely head over heels for them already.

"Jasper is freaking hot! When he says 'darling' it does crazy things to my insides, and my panties as well." Alice winked and Rose and I giggled. Had I not been so drunk, I'd probably been purple from blushing so hard. He was like my brother, he always knew how I was feeling before I ever did and would calm me down anytime Edward and I got into a fight.

"Emmett is huge but he seems like a huge softy," Rose looked to me for confirmation. She had figured him out spot on, I nodded. "I don't know, he seems like a good guy, someone I'd like to have around."

Emmett was a good guy to have around, he could take a joke like no other and if anything ever happened to me he was there in an instant. He was over protective at times but now that I look back on it, I wouldn't have traded him for the world.

"Me, me I wanna go!" Rose yelled from her spot bouncing up and down waving her hands in the air. Alice and I looked at her expectantly waiting to hear what she had to ask us. "Bella, what do you think of seeing Eddie boy again?"

"I think I still love him," I blurted right out. I slapped my hand over my mouth realizing what I had just said out loud, _damn sake._

I looked over to see Alice and Rose staring at me and then they fell backwards laughing hysterically. I picked up a pillow and started smacking them, which in turn started a huge pillow fight. We were rolling around, bouncing off the walls, jumping off the bed trying to tackle each other.

Overall we were just goofing having a good time. There was a knock at the door, but we were all too busy trying to beat each other and a little too drunk to realize that there was someone at the door. Slowly the knock turned into a pound that shook the walls even over our screams and the music. Rose looked towards the door pointed and started laughing.

P!nk's "So what" was playing in the background, _ahh girls night!_ We all stood up and made our way to the door, giving each other a shove on the way to the door. Rose was dancing along. Alice pulled the door open so hard it bounced off of the wall.

"Oh it's just you guys," a familiar man's voice said sounding shocked and a bit gruff like he thought he was going to have to break down the door.

I looked up to see three sets of firstly shocked and then amused eyes. I reached up to feel my head half of my hair was out of the messy bun I had it in; Rose's hair didn't look any better. Alice was tugging on the bottom of her t-shirt suddenly bashful, _surprising._

"We, um, heard screaming and banging and we thought something was wrong," supplied a equally bashful Jasper. He had a slight tint of red to his face as he looked at Alice and what she was wearing.

"So what?" Rose blurted our borrowing a line for the song blaring in the background. Alice and I laughed at what she said. "You three Dudley do rights wandering the halls looking for damsels in distress?" Rose asked while jamming a finger into Emmett's chest while he stood there, basically drooling.

"Ah, no we are next door actually; we heard the noise through the wall and thought something was getting out of control." Edward stated while running his hand through his hair. He seemed to be the only one that was looking down at the ground and not at us three.

"Oh Eddie boy, you know all about being out of control huh?" I winked while instantly regretting what I said, _fucking sake._ Edward never lifted his head he just shook it slightly and rubbed a hand over his chest. I felt eyes on me and I looked over to see Jasper staring at me closely, a look of wonder splayed all over his face.

"Ha, him? He's been practically celibate for three years." Emmett added, Edward pinching the bridge of his nose. Obviously hurt and embarrassed.

"Look, obviously you are all ok and just drunk, simply goofing around. We will go back to our room, sorry." With that he turned to the left and walked off down the hall. He never lifted his head. Emmett mouthed sorry and walked off after him, knowing he hit a nerve with his comment even if he had meant it jokingly. Jasper was the last to leave; he never stopped looking at me.

We closed the door and all three of us slid our backs down it until we hit the floor. We sat there in silence for a moment before Rose broke it. "Eddie boy?"

At that we all erupted laughing, it really was turning out to be a huge joke. Pretty soon I'd start looking around for the hidden cameras. The chances of us first being in the same town, same hotel, and now to top that all off being stuck in rooms right next to each other, this had to be some one's handy work.

"Oh shut up! You said it first, I was just simply borrowing it."

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	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer- I own none of twilight or the characters within, I'm just having some fun.**

**Author's note- I have to give a lot of love to my beta A Cullen Wannabe she got me this chapter back the same day I sent it wooo! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLIE!! **

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter, I think I wrote you all responses back, if I didn't I apologize!! A big thank you to all of you have put this story on alert or added it to your favorites!!!! Thank you Thank you all of you! I never thought so many people would enjoy this story, well that's enough of my drawn out blabbering read and enjoy, and review please! **

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"Hangover haze"

Groaning I rolled over tangled in Alice, smacking into Rosalie. _When did I get in the middle?_ Sitting up I grabbed my forehead, my brain was throbbing. I made my way over Alice and landed on the floor with a thud. _ugh!_ Walking into the main part of the hotel room I looked around noticing it was in shreds, considering we had just cleaned it right before we left last night.. Last night!

Memories slowly made there way back into my head. I remembered admitting I was still in love with Edward, which was true, I don't think I ever was out of love with him. Pissed yes, out of love no, it was hard not to forget everything we had; every time I looked at Jackson I was reminded of what once was.

But there was something else that happened. I looked at the door out to the hallway and smacked my head, _ow shit,_ the guys had come over. Looking closer, I noticed there was a folded piece of paper sticking out from under the door. Bending over to pick it up my head throbbed more.

_Sorry about last night, we are dumb. Beach tomorrow? Room 307_

I laughed, I didn't understand why they didn't sign their names instead deciding to just put there room number. It didn't look like Edward's hand writing. It looked as if it was part Jaspers and the other half Emmett. I tossed the note on the table and started to looking around for any food.

I needed time to silently think of everything that happened over the past day. I bumped into Edward and his posse, I felt some relief seeing all of them but at the same time it stirred up so many different emotions I had bottled up for so long. A million questions and thoughts were running in my head. What if Edward figured out who I was? Would he want to go back to Jacksonville with me? Should I tell him about Jax? What kind of father would he be? And that depended on if he even planned on sticking around. It was so obvious that the past years hadn't been easy for him, not that mine had been a cake walk, but still none of that really mattered when I looked at how broken he was. I hurt for him even if he was the one who got us in the situation we were now in.

Rose slowly made her way out of the room gripping the doorway with one hand and her head with the other. "Holy shit it's 3." I looked around to noticing the clock.

I didn't remember what time I fell out of bed, but it seemed that this day was not going to be a productive one. I was relieved Aro basically gave us today off; I think he knew we'd need it from all of the drinking we had done last night.

"Ha, I guess it is. There is a note on the table, you should read it." I motioned towards the slip of paper and grabbed the can of cheese I had previously made fun of Rose for. Tipping my head back I filled my mouth.

"Hmm, thank god they didn't say today. I don't think I could stand to be outside right now." She rubbed her face, I could only assume her head felt as well as mine did, we had definitely drank way too much. "What should we do call their room? Slide them a note?"

"Weh sould rit em ah no." I responded my mouth still caked with fake cheese.

Rose grinned knowing what I meant. She headed to get a piece of paper out of the night stand to write them back. "So what should we say to Jasper, Em, and Eddie boy?"

I thought it was cute how she called Emmett Em, wait, _Eddie boy_? The memories of what happened in the doorway slowly started to flood back.

"Eddie boy?" I choked out around the lump of cheese now taking residence in my throat.

"Ya, remember you questioned his control and then Emmett commented about how Eddie hasn't gotten any in three years, Edward got pissed, apologized for over reacting and interrupting us, and then stalked off."

Now that she had mentioned it I remembered all of it. All I could do was nod.

He hadn't been with anyone for three years. Clearly he hadn't moved on. And with the tattoo he had it seemed as if he really was fucked up from me leaving, not that he didn't deserve it, but it still didn't help make the hole in my chest feel any better. The more I found out yesterday the more it seemed to make it grow.

I really wish I could just tell him who I was, yell at him, and get it all out on the table, but that was impossible. If I did that I would have to tell him about Jackson, and I wasn't about to introduce him into my sons life and have him up and leave. I didn't want Jackson to ever be hurt, and I felt that if I was to bring Edward into his life ultimately hurt would be inevitable.

"Well what should we write?" Rose asked breaking me out of my trance. "I know I wouldn't mind hanging out with them and Aro said last night that we didn't need to do anything until Thursday."

Last night it had been decided that since Aro wanted to see the workings of a big city club, we were free to do what ever we wanted, until Thursday, that's when Aro had worked in for us to dance at the club. The only stipulation was that we had to let James know where we were if he called to check on us.

"Um, write something about last night not being a big deal and that we'd love to meet them to go to the beach."

"What the hell are you two yelling about?"

We both turned to see Alice standing in the doorway to the bedroom with one hand over her eyes the other raking through her hair that at the time looked more like a birds nest.

It was hard not to laugh when you looked at her. She looked like she felt like a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of someone's shoe. I put my hand over my mouth trying to stop myself from laughing out loud. My shoulders shook with the silent giggles. I looked over to Rose and she was doing the same, stifling her laughter with the paper. I could guarantee if she could have seen herself she would have been laughing too.

"It's not funny, my head is pounding and all I really remember was Bella calling Edward Eddie boy."

"Oh ya Al, we all feel like a million bucks too." I said reading over Rose's shoulder to see what she decided to write when she decided to put down the paper. "Look we got a note from our neighbors, saying sorry and that they want to meet up tomorrow."

I looked up to see Alice clapping and hopping up and down slightly, a way lesser then normal display for her.

"Who wrote it? Lemme see." she made her way across the room reaching for the note.

"None of them signed it, they just wrote there room number." Rose said handing Alice the note.

"Jasper wrote the sorry part and Emmett asked about the beach." I saw Alice and Rose stare at me wondering how I knew. Alice started to open her mouth and I held up my hand. "What? I spent almost three years with them, practically everyday and when we were in school I usually had to help them with their homework."

"Oh, so Edward had nothing to do with it? Hmm, if I remember right he got pissed off about something last night."

Alice had made the understatement of the year, Edward was pissed and hurt. I could tell because he usually pinched his nose and rubbed at his face when he was hurt and tugged at his hair when he was angry or thinking. And it seemed that he had also now picked up a new tick, whenever he thought of me his hand rubbed his tattoo. He was obviously still hurting from everything that happened and Emmett had rubbed salt in a three year old wound bringing it up.

"There, it's all done. How about this? _No worries guys, we barely remember what happened as it is. We'd love to go to the beach tomorrow with you! When? Room 305_, and I drew a little heart. I also decided to add a p.s." Rose said holding up the note so we could read. _p.s. don't worry there will be no ruckus tonight; we need to recuperate, especially if we are spending time with you all_, and she drew a winking face at the end. _Only Rose_, she had a worse mind then a teenage boy most of the time.

Alice took the note to their room and left it underneath the door like they had done with our note some time during the morning while we were still passed out.

Collectively we decided that it'd be best to just stay in our room so we wouldn't have to deal with anyone. We ordered room service and sprawled out on the full sized bed, watching a CSI marathon.

Eventually we heard a piece of paper slide against the floor. Alice hopped up and flitted across the room. She grabbed it and waved it in the air like she had found a golden ticket. She unfolded it and read it seeming confused and excited at the same time.

"What's it say Al?"

"Uh, it says to meet them in the lobby tomorrow at eleven, and that we can ride with them in Emmett's jeep so we don't have to get a cab."

"Well, that'll be fun, six people crammed in a jeep…." Rose replied sounding slightly annoyed at the riding arrangement.

"Rose, I don't think that's what they planned, I think someone was going to be sitting out on the fun tomorrow." I looked over to see the realization hit Rose, I had a feeling Edward would be the one sitting out.

It hurt, especially considering it was all because of me. Not that he didn't deserve to be hurt, but I thought by now he would have moved on, especially since he technically had already done so while he was with me. I could feel the tears pooling in my eyes, it was all becoming too much.

"I never would have thought, I figured, god why didn't he just move on?" both Alice and Rose wrapped there arms around me.

"Probably the same reason you never really moved on." Alice said trying to sooth me while playing with my hair.

"Please don't let him ruin this for you! You should be having fun; you deserve to have some fun after everything you've been through." Rosalie added pulling her face back from me and looking me in the eyes.

They were both right, who was I to bitch about him not moving on, I hadn't and really had no intentions on doing such until this trip. And really he didn't deserve to have this much power over me. But it was still so hard not to feel that pull towards him, I just couldn't let it get to me. "You're right, both of you," I sighed wiping my eyes from the tears that managed to pour over. "Fuck 'em."

They both laughed and rubbed my back. I looked over to the clock and saw that it was after 8. "Now if you guys don't mind, I have to call the most important man of my life." I made a move to get up off the bed and they both gave me a thumbs up.

Regardless of how shitty Edward could make me feel, I still held a spot for him in my heart, even if he didn't deserve it, he had it. I just had to learn how to deal with it. I could manage to act like nothing was up for a few days, after that the chances of us ever bumping into each other ever again were slim to none. _Isn't that what you thought before too?_ Either way, I had to make sure he didn't figure out who I was or who was at home waiting for me, if he figured it all out I'd have no clue how it would effect my world.

Scrolling through my contacts I found the number I needed, it rang a few times and eventually I heard the other end pick up.

"Hello?" Renee's voice reverberated through the ear piece.

"Hey mom it's me"

"Bella! How are you? Are you having fun? Meet any cute boys?"_ if only she knew I had run into THE boy._

"I'm good. I'm having a lot of fun. Do you really think Alice and Rose would let me not? And the boys are ok, I guess." I couldn't tell her the truth; if I had, she would probably ship me back to Jacksonville for a psych evaluation. "Is Jax around mom? I really wanted to tell him good night."

"Ya, he's watching some sports show with Phil. Hold on lemme hand him the phone."

"Hello?"

"Hey little man, what are you up to?"

"TV, I got to go bed soon, Grandma told me."

"Haha, I know that's why I called. I wanted to tell you goodnight and sweet dreams."

"Mommy, miss you, bye mwah." and with that he hung up.

I was glad he hung up so abruptly. I wanted to tell him about everything that happened, not that he would understand. I always made a point to talk to him while he was asleep after I got home from work. I'd usually tell him nonsense stories about me and Edward when we were together. Jax was the one reminder I had of my time with him.

I shook my head walking back into the bedroom chucking my phone onto the night stand. Tomorrow was guaranteed to be an interesting day, hanging out with just Emmett and Jasper.

Alice and Rose were already curled up, looking towards me. I climbed in and we all cuddled, simply as friends who were there for each other no matter what.

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**Hope you all likey!! Pretty pretty please review for me (I'm doing the puppy dog eyes)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer- this morning as I was getting ready I saw that still I am not Stephenie Meyer therefore I don't own Twilight or any of the characters within.=)**

**A.N- Thank you guys so much for the reviews!!! I do a stupid little dance when I see a new one in my e-mail hehehe Courtney, thank you for reviewing I wanted to reply but there was no return email =( Last time I checked I was one review away from 50!!!! You guy's are amazing!!!!**

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"Dropping the J Bomb"

"Here goes nothing," Alice said as the doors opened to the elevator. We saw Emmett and Jasper standing in the lobby, Emmett waving us over to join them.

Looking around the lobby I found that my assumptions night before were right, Edward was nowhere to be found. None of us acknowledged that he was missing.

Making our way over to Emmett's jeep, I couldn't help but notice that it was exactly the same kind that he had in high school, just a newer model. Once I rounded the side of the jeep I saw that it was parked next to a very familiar Volvo. I had to resist the urge to key it, it helped I didn't have any keys handy.

Emmett pulled open the door for Rose and Jasper opened the rear right passenger door. We flung Alice into the middle and Rose sat right behind the driver's seat, behind Emmett. Backing out of the parking lot and pulling on to the main road Jasper turned and stuck his head between the seats, putting his face extremely close to Alice's. She reached over and squeezed my hand. "So, darling are you feeling any better? Or are we going to just end up lying around today too."

I couldn't help but smirk thinking back to what Alice said about what Jasper saying darling did to her. I looked over and saw Rose reflecting the same smirk. Alice looked flushed and was breathing harder; she had the death grip on my hand. "How are your panties doing… darling?" I whispered into her ear mocking Jasper. She reached over and smacked my arm. Jasper raised an eyebrow silently asking what I had just to her.

"I'm um feeling ah fine?" Alice finally responded, she was still so awe struck by Jasper being in such close proximity to her and what I had just said giving her statement more of a questioning tone.

Rose started giggling trying to hide it with her hand. "Did I miss something?" Jasper wondered out loud. He was probably starting to question our sanity, I know I was_._

"Nope, just girl stuff and an inside joke," Rose said between giggles looking over at Alice. "You wouldn't want to know anyway, most of it was drunken statements."

"Oo, do tell, drunken comments are the best!" Emmett yelled while pulling into a parking lot.

"Well it all began when we were asking each other questions last night and Alice-" _SMACK_. The damn little pixie clamped her hand down over my mouth.

"So help me god if you continue I'll tell them what you said about Eddie!" Alice growled into my ear.

"Um, never mind," I managed to squeak out once she released my mouth.

Alice may be small but she was scary, and I didn't need her telling the guys my feelings for Edward. I still hadn't even came fully to term with how I felt about Edward, and seeing him again.

The jeep parked and Emmett slung open the door and offered Rose a hand out. Once she was on the ground they walked away hand in hand. Jasper had instantly replaced Emmett's spot and helped Alice out. He picked her up at the waist and gently placed her down on the ground. He put an arm over her shoulder and they started to walk away. I sat there alone in the jeep groaning, the whole scene made my teeth hurt it was so fucking sweet and tacky.

Slowly I made my way out of the jeep and closed the door, there was no point in making sure it was locked, it didn't even have the canopy on it.

Making my way over the dune onto the beach, I noticed it was packed. There were college aged people scattered throughout and there were a few families here and there. The sand seemed to be alive with people. Looking closer I spotted Emmett, not that he was hard to find, people normally weren't the size of him.

I saw Alice and Rose laying out the towels they had brought along to stretch out on. Once I made my way over to them, I laid out my towel and sat down. Alice and Jasper decided to take a walk along the beach and do whatever it was that vomit inducing couples do.

Rose went to sit next to me but Emmett slung her over his shoulder carrying her towards the water like a caveman, she giggled the whole way.

Sighing I laid back and closed my eyes. I decided that I wouldn't be the third wheel, they were all having fun and I wasn't in any place to ruin it for them. It wasn't their fault damn Eddie chickened out. I didn't mind lying on the beach enjoying the sound of the waves and the people, it was nice relaxing and I felt that if I didn't unplug my mind for a little bit I was going to loose it.

"Hey," I heard a gruff guy's voice call out. I didn't even open my eyes, there were so many people on either side of me I was probably just overhearing someone else's conversation.

"Hello?" and then I felt a warm ruff hand graze my shoulder.

Sitting up and opening my eyes, I was temporarily blinded from the sun. Leaning back onto my elbows they finally adjusted. To my left stood an extremely tall guy, he looked like he was almost seven feet tall. He was very tan and had spiky black hair; he was cute but not my type, especially after seeing Edward _again_.

"Um, Hey," I gave him a slight wave and caught my bottom lip between my teeth.

"Mind if I sit with you?" he motioned towards the towel that Alice had laid out.

"Oh, um sure, pop a squat." There was no harm in having him sit next to me, I figured he wouldn't try to do anything stupid we were on a beach full of people, if he did decide to try anything there was more then enough people around to help me. And furthermore, I was left all alone by Edward, he could keep me company.

Sitting down next to me he stuck his hand out for me to shake it. "I'm Jake."

Grabbing a hold of his hand I responded, "Izzy"

"So Iz, what is someone looking like you doing all alone out here?"

"Haha, well let's see, my friends and I came out here with a few guys, they all paired up and went off," I said picking at the towel. "And I didn't feel like being the third wheel, soo here I sit."

"Hm, some friends." He sounded genuinely annoyed by how I was being treated. I really could have cared less personally, my friends weren't to blame for the situation I currently found myself in.

"I don't mind really, they are having fun, I can't complain."

"Are you usually this selfless?"

"Ha, ya I suppose you could say that I am most of the time, are you usually this inquisitive about girls you just meet?"

I closed my eyes tilting my head back waiting for Jake's response enjoying the warmth the sun provided. I heard a throat clear from the other side of me, opening my eyes and looking over at Jake I noticed he was looking up at whoever made the noise.

Following Jake's gaze I looked over my shoulder and saw Edward standing there sneering at Jake looking as if he was about to pounce on him.

"Uh well, I guess um I'm going to get going, it was nice meeting you." And with that Jake stood up and quickly made his way down the beach.

I looked over to see Edward sitting down next to me with a smug grin on his face. "How'd you find me?" I asked while laying myself back down.

"It's not hard to miss you." He replied while tugging slightly at his hair, making it messier then usual.

"I didn't think you were coming," I mused out loud.

"Well, I almost didn't, you know this hair of mine takes a lot of time to get perfect."

I started laughing; there was no way he spent any time on the mop that was on his head. He just had to simply roll out of bed and it'd be exactly like it was. "Ya, sure I'll believe that when I see it."

"Hey, I don't question your getting ready process."

"Mine's simple, Alice."

He started laughing and shaking his head. "That little pixie is crazy isn't she?" I smirked at his analogy for Alice, he had her figured out.

"Ya she is, but I wouldn't trade her for the world." I motioned down the beach where you could faintly see Jasper and Alice making a sand castle. "She's crazy for him too."

"I believe the feeling is mutual for them." He then pointed towards the ocean were Emmett was tightly holding onto Rose while they were splashing in the waves. "Those two, I've never seen either of them act so well behaved, especially Em."

I smirked, now that he had mentioned it I had never seen either Jasper or Emmett treat any female as well as they were treating Alice and Rosalie, well except for their moms but that's a completely different situation.

"What about you? Are you usually this 'well behaved'?" I knew it was a loaded question. I could pretty much figure out from how he acted and what Emmett had said that he seemed to be the agoraphobic of the group.

"Me? Um no. Wait that's not what I mean," he ran his hands through his hair, rubbing at his face before continuing. "I mean usually I don't put myself into situations were I can misbehave, I um, lately I have just kept to myself." He slowly ran his hand over his tattoo on his chest.

"Why… why the sudden change?" I asked biting my lip. I really didn't want to know but I had to ask. I had to know for the sake of my sanity, _curiosity killed the cat_.

"I don't know, there is something about you," he placed a hand on the other side of me holding himself over me, making it so that we were face to face. "I haven't quite figured it out yet, but you, you make me feel… comfortable again."

He slowly lowered his face to mine as my eyes instinctively slid close. I was waiting for his lips to brush mine, the anticipation was killing me. I could feel his warm breath washing over me getting closer and closer _**THUMP**_.

I popped my eyes open looking around to see what had just made such a loud thump at the worst time possible. I noticed a football sitting on the towel that Edward was just sitting on.

Propping myself onto my elbows I saw Edward sitting at the foot of my towel rubbing the side of his head. I covered my mouth with my hand trying to keep the giggle that was about to bubble out.

"Sorry," I looked over to see a little boy reaching down to pick up his football. His mom was standing next to him, she looked middle aged. Once the boy stood up straight she grabbed him by the shoulder, obviously she wasn't thrilled with her son. "Mom was 'pose to catch it but she didn't." I could see the kid's mom tighten her fingers on his shoulder.

"No harm, no foul, right Edward?" I felt bad for the boy, he seemed to be about five or six, and it all reminded me of something that Jackson might have done had he been older.

"Right!" Edward looked over towards me with my favorite grin on his face. "Hey bud, I have an idea how bout I play catch with you?" He looked over towards me, his eyes asking if I minded. All I could do was nod my head; he seemed so excited at the thought of playing catch with this boy, I couldn't say no.

My mind was suddenly filled with visions of him playing with Jackson. Looking at Edward I would have never guessed he would be one to have a soft spot for kids. But watching him lead the boy down the beach away from the people who were laying out, it was very obvious he was enjoying himself and making sure that the boy felt comfortable all at the same time, _maybe I did make a mistake._

"Huh, hot and good with kids, you've got yourself a winner." My mouth popped open I was incapable of forming a coherent sentence.

He did seem perfect, but there was so many questions I still had about that night that I don't think I could even form a list of everything I wanted to know, everything that I needed to hear.

Granted he seemed perfect now but he had also fucked up, he fucked up bad. I had way too many unsettled issues that I had to work out with him before I could even consider introducing him to Jackson, or with us trying to reconcile our relationship.

"What? Are you two not together?" This woman was starting to get on my nerves; her questions were making me think about things I never wanted to rehash.

"It's complicated." I gritted out through my teeth, this lady didn't know anything about me and furthermore, her son had just hardcore cock blocked me from something I haven't had in years. She seemed as if she wanted every god forsaken detail of my past and present.

"Oh, ok, tell Jason I'll be over where we were before, and tell your boyfriend or who ever he is to you, thanks." And with that she walked off. Groaning, I slapped my hand to my forehead, this kid's freaking name was even close to Jackson's.

"Hey, you ok?" Alice asked making her way over to me, Jasper following her like a lost dog, _gag_.

"How much did you see?"

"Well we saw some random lady talking to you, Al said you looked like you were getting pissed so we decided to head over and make sure you were alright."

Alice sat down next to me looking at me skeptically clearly wondering what the hell was going on in my head, _if only you knew Al, if only you knew._

"I don't know, it started when Edwar-"

"Wait Edward is here?" Jasper asked sounding amazed that the self proclaimed recluse made a public appearance.

"Ya, he's over there." I pointed my finger to where Edward and the little boy Jason were now playing catch.

Edward had a huge smile plastered on his face; he looked like he was in a state of pure joy. His face was so animated as he talked and joked with Jason, he had the boy laughing so hard he couldn't even throw the football back to Edward.

"Wow, he'd be perfect with Jackson." Alice nonchalantly commented while taking in the scene before us. She quickly slapped her hand over her mouth once she realized what she had said. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry it just slipped I didn't mean-"

"Wait, who's Jackson?" a very confused Jasper cut off Alice from her apology rant.

Just as I was about to formulate some sort of bullshit lie, Rose and Emmett appeared, _why the fuck not._

"Why the hell does Jasper look like someone told him Santa wasn't real, and Alice looks like she is the one who told him?" Emmett maybe a big teddy bear but at times he could be an observant little shit, and now was one of those times. Rose looked between Alice and me wondering what the hell had just happened.

"Nothing," all three of us blurted out. I looked to Jasper and he seemed like he wanted to ask me more but could tell it was a sensitive subject, one that I didn't want shared with others.

"Riiigggghhhhtttt, well what do you guys think should we go back and check on Emo-ward back at the hotel?"

"Emo-ward?" Edward replied making his way back from taking Jason back over to his interrogating mother. "Emmett, were you dropped on your head?"

"Ha, freaking hilarious, what drew you from your cave today? I thought you were going to spend the day 'thinking'." Emmett quickly quipped back while we all stood there with baited breath waiting to hear what Edward would say next. It was very obvious that Emmett was purposely pushing Edwards buttons. And this was usually the point that he shut down.

"I don't know," Edward ran his hand through his hair; you could see his carefully placed façade starting to crack. "I just thought it would be nice to go out to the beach today and maybe get some fresh air…"

I wanted to yell out bullshit but I refrained. That was not what he told me earlier, if he was really starting to have feelings for me, why couldn't he tell his friends? Jesus he almost fucking kissed me before we got interrupted by a football. Not to mention his 'you make me feel comfortable again' line of bullshit. I actually started to feel bad for that fuck-tard; he actually had me considering that he could fit in my life now.

I felt physically sick, I felt as if he had been playing me all along. Acting like this poor hurt soul that hasn't been with anyone for years and he now finally was putting himself back out there again because 'there was something about me', _touché Edward fucking Cullen, touché. _

Fine if he wanted to play I'll play along. I can easily act like his little wounded lamb scheme is working; I don't think he realized that I knew every play in the book by now, it's hard not too. It'd be no different than work, get the guys to like you, lead them on, and then at closing time leave 'em and forget 'em.

"Thanks by the way for showing up," I gritted out.

"Is anyone hungry? I'm starving." Jasper asked sensing something was going on.

Between Alice's remark about Jackson and my silent musing and then finally saying thanks, he had to have known something was going on, something big.

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**Awww Eddie boy you dofus! Buckle your seat belts people it's about to get interesting lol I think everyone should hit the lil green button and review since I broke my nose yesterday lol true story!!! Reviews will make my nose feel better =) Thank you for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer- as usual I am not Stephenie Meyer, have not been and never will be unfortunately.**

**Author's Note- Humongo props to my lovely awesome beta A Cullen Wannabe, my stories would be littered with errors without you and for the huge confidence booster! **

**HOLY CRAP!!! you guys totally blew me away with reviews, alerts and favorites!!! I feel like Sally Fields, you like me you really really do lol Thank you to everyone who asked about my nose.. dumb dog lol I can finally breath hahaha. **

**I hope you all enjoy this chapter when I finished it I stood up and did a little happy dance cuz I love how it turned out, I hope you guy's will love it too! **

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"Unintended"

Walking into the little dive of a diner, I saw Emmett and Jasper sitting across from each other in a booth tucked away in a corner. The bronze headed dick was nowhere in sight.

After we had all parted ways from the beach, I gave Alice the verbal whip lashing of her life. She felt so guilty; I was surprised that she was even willing to meet the guys for breakfast this morning.

We spent the whole next day avoiding them like the black plague, Alice was too afraid she would slip up again. I was far too pissed off at Edward to even want to be in the same room as him, and well, Rose just followed along with what we did.

I had however eventually told them of the totally dick move that Edward pulled while we were at the beach. They were both pissed but Alice, playing the devils advocate, tried to have me see a less damning alternative option for Edward's actions. She wanted me to see if maybe he really was hurt and just didn't know how to handle himself while falling for someone again, hence why we now found ourselves walking through a little diner to meet with dumb and dumber.

Alice decided that the best way to find out the goods about Edward was to question the other two parts of the trifecta about him, without him around.

When we had mentioned going out for breakfast to the guys, Edward didn't want to go, which worked perfectly for us. We could grill Emmett and Jasper and get a feel for what was going on in Eddie boy's head.

So here we are now the three of us piling into a mom and pop diner getting ready to grill the boys about everything that we could without seeming conspicuous.

Once we made it to the booth, Emmett scooted over and Rose slid in right next to him. Alice sat next to Jasper and I sat next to her.

She had demanded that I was to sit next to her in order to make sure she didn't slip up again, I didn't think she would ever let her dropping the J bomb go.

"How are you all doing?" Emmett asked after a bit of awkward silence.

None of us really knew how to start asking questions about Edward without seeming obvious and weird. We had never had to interrogate anyone before, now that I thought about it, I should have asked Jason's mom for tips since she seemed to have it down pat. We wanted to try and fly under the radar as much as possible after the beach.

"We are good, well rested." Rose responded while playing with Emmett's bicep. Her answer was basic and I had the inkling that she was trying to distract him from the obvious tension in the air by touching him.

Jasper put his arm around Alice and pulled her closer to him. "How about you darling how are you?"

"Good.." she squeaked out, I'm not sure if she did it because of the term of endearment or because she was afraid to say anything else.

"There is one of you missing." Rose said nonchalantly pointing between Emmett and Jasper. "What, did we scare him off?" _casual Rose, real freaking casual._

"Ha, no, I'd say far from that." Emmett stated while playing with Rose's hair, all of the lovey dovey crap had me swallowing bile again. "He actually surprisingly likes you guys."

"Well thanks Emmett, could you make it sound any more painful?" Alice said in between giggles, she seemed to be loosening up with the more time we spent with them.

Just as he was about to respond a little white haired woman complete with the standard pale pink waitress dress made her way over to our booth. She looked like she had worked here since the diner opened in the 1950's. "What can I get ya'll?"

"Coffee," we all said at once.

"Haha, ok I'll be right back, my name is Dolly by the way if you need anything else shug, you let me know." She stated while looking between Emmett and Jasper adding a wink to boot.

Alice looked disgusted and Rose looked as if she was ready to jump the table and tackle the poor old lady. All I could do was laugh, it really was quite comical.

Dolly could be the guys' grandmother and then some and she was hitting on them, and then to top it off Alice and Rose acted like she was actually competition to them.

"What?" Rose asked while shooting daggers at me, annoyed at my laughing. Alice's face turned into a sneer when she looked at me.

"Nothing I just thought of something funny that's all." Which wasn't a complete lie I just wasn't about to tell her that both Alice and herself looked ridiculous getting all worked up because of a senior citizen hitting on their newly found men.

"So, where is the missing third amigo?" _Jesus Alice next time I will just give you a freaking poster board to announce everything._

"Who? Oh Emo-ward?" Emmett asked. We all nodded our heads in confirmation. "I don't know, doing what he does best, off crying in a corner licking his wounds."

I didn't know why but all the picking on Edward that Emmett did about his self esteem and everything that had gone on was really starting to rake on my nerves. Even if I was pissed at him he was still acting insensitive and being an ass.

"Why do you pick on him so much? He's obviously hurting." I blurted out without even thinking, noticeably my verbal filter took a vacation when I was pissed off or trying to defend someone I cared for.

"Ya Em, it's not nice to pick on a friend like that." Rosalie added sounding like she was scolding Emmett as if he was Jackson.

She was trying to make it seem like we were all offended by Emmett's actions she was trying help pick up the ball that I had dropped. _Thankfully she still had her senses about her._

"Emmett isn't mean. It's just his way of trying to throw Edward back out there." Jasper supplied, trying to help out his friend.

"Here ya'll go." Dolly interrupted our discussion by handing out coffee mugs to us. "What cha' want to eat?"

"Nothing for me." My appetite had long since left.

"We are good." Rose motioned between herself and Alice.

"I think we both are also good with just coffee, thanks though darling." Jasper told Dolly trying to make it sound as nice as possible. She had interrupted serious banter that needed to be made.

"Alright, well if ya'll need anything holler." And with that she walked off.

"Ok, so back to what I was saying, Emmett is doing what he thinks will help Edward out even if it seems cruel, that's just how Emmett is." Jasper finally finished his earlier train of thought.

"I'm the ass and Jasper is the shoulder to cry on." Emmett stated while pointing between himself and Jasper. "It's time. He needed a wake up call anyway, we couldn't keep coddling him, he needs to move on, and obviously she wasn't in love him like he thought she was."

My blood began to slowly boil, how dare he say that I didn't love Edward, he had no clue. I had to figure Edward told him about his cheating shit he pulled but he didn't know my side of the story he was assuming.

Alice must have sensed my blood getting warmer by the minute and reached under the table grabbing my thigh. She giving it a little pinch and caught my eyes trying to remind me not to flip out.

"Hm, she sounds like a real bitch." Rose said while quickly locking eyes with me conveying that she was merely saying it for effect.

"Ya, someone who would break a poor guys heart like that, obviously he still isn't ok." I added trying to make it seems less noticeable that we were actually talking about me.

"Well he wasn't completely innocent either," Jasper stated making me feel a little better at least he was standing up for me.

"But that's the thing, he went to apologize and beg for her back and she just fell off the face of the planet." I had to bite my lip to keep from yelling or sobbing. I wasn't sure which one I wanted to do. But I had the feeling the more Emmett talked I'd be doing the latter and would be sobbing eventually.

"Her father doesn't even know where she ended up," Jasper added increasing the gaping feeling in my chest. "Edward went everyday to her house before we left for college after she left. He would plead with her father for anything that he could tell him, any news about her. Sometimes he will even stop by now when we are home for summer and see if there is something new."

I didn't know how much more I could stand to hear. If I got up I'd stick out like a sore godforsaken thumb, but if I stayed I didn't know what else I could listen to without saying something, anything.

"Wow, so by him finally hanging out with people, especially girls, is a pretty big thing eh?"

"Ya Rose, that's why he only does it very infrequently," Emmett answered Rosalie while drawing nonsense designs on her arm. "He feels as if he's doing wrong by her by getting out there without apologizing for what he did, and without him being able to let her know that he still loves her."

_Still loves her_, did I just hear him correctly? Edward still loves me after everything? I could understand unsettled issues but love. I shook my head making sure I wasn't dreaming and actually hearing correctly.

"Wow," was all I could manage to croak out.

"I'd defiantly say wow; he must have really cared for her." Alice added while squeezing my leg as if to prove her point that I had him pegged wrong at the beach.

"He still does, you don't know how badly he beats himself up every single day over what happened." Jasper's voice cracked at the end, it was obvious that he really cared for Edward and what he was going through.

"Well, babe I've had enough talking about Emo-ward how bout you and me get out of here and walk around?" Emmett asked Rose. I didn't mind, that would give me the perfect escape to go back to the hotel to think and not have to put on a show anymore.

Alice and I both nodded our heads at Rosalie telling her that we didn't mind if she went. "Um, sure let's go."

Once Emmett and Rose left, I slid over to there side of the booth they were sitting at giving Alice and Jasper some more room.

"What about you darling? You want to get out of here for a little while?"

"I would love to but what about-?"

"Shut up and get out of here, you damn kids are going to make me puke eventually with all the sweet crap," I said while mocking gagging. "Go please, before I loose this delicious diner coffee and lil miss Dolly has a mess to clean up."

Alice giggled and Jasper shook his head while grinning.

"As long as you're sure."

"Please, really I mean it, go, I'm just going to go back to the hotel and watch TV. I need a break from people."

"Haha, are you sure? I don't want to take Alice away from you if you guys had plans or whatever." Jasper really was acting well behaved like Edward had mentioned, I don't think I could remember one time that he put a girls feelings before his own, not to mention her friends.

"The only thing you are taking her from is her dress up a life sized Barbie time, and quite frankly, I need a break, so please get out of here before I make a freaking scene." I stuck my finger up and pointed it between the two of them while lowering my eyes at them. "You have no clue what I am capable of."

"Oh lord, we better get out of here. I've seen her make a fuss before and it's not fun." Alice said while tugging Jasper out of the booth.

Before I could blink they were out the door.

________________________________________________

Once back at the hotel I decided I needed to just unwind, and the best way to do that was to plug in my ipod and take a nice warm bath. It was always a time when I did my best thinking.

I walked into the bathroom turning on the water and adding the bubble bath. I moved my hand around the water mixing up the liquid filling the tub with foamy bubbles and incasing the room in the scent of freesia. While mixing the soap I accidentally got the sleeve of my shirt wet. Standing up from the edge of the tub I pulled my shirt over my head flinging it on the floor in the bathroom.

Walking out into the main part of the room I was humming along to myself making my way to where my luggage was so that I could grab my ipod and the speakers to it.

"Hm, I should sneak into your room more often."

"Jesus fucking Christ James!"

He was sprawled out on the full sized bed arms propped behind his head just laying there waiting for god knows what. "What the hell are you doing in here?"

"What the hell am I doing in here?" his voice mocking like he was offended at what I just asked him. Slowly he moved himself forward so he was kneeling on the foot of the bed looking like he was ready to jump me. "Aro said to keep an eye on you girls; I can't help it if I'd rather keep my eyes on you."

"Ugh, really James? Aro said to make sure you knew where we were." Suddenly I remembered that my shirt was sitting on the bathroom floor quickly I covered my chest. "James you know where I am, now leave, you could have just freaking called!"

He stood up but made no move to leave while eyeing me over and over as he kept licking his lips, each pass made me feel more and more uncomfortable.

"Please just go!" I walked towards him and shoved him towards the door. "Go before I call the lobby!"

"I like it when you ask me nicely." He said while reaching for the door handle. "I'll have to remember to make you say please more often."

And with that he slipped out into the hallway. I quickly locked the deadbolt and chain after him; clearly he had gotten his hands on a key to our room. I'd have to tell the girls when they got back so that they knew to be on look out for him. Maybe we could talk the guys into switching rooms with us, that would give James a shock.

I finally grabbed my ipod and docking station and brought it into the bathroom. Before I slipped off the rest of my clothes I checked the door one last time to make sure there was no way James could get in.

Finally feeling satisfied that there was no way he could get in, I slipped into the tub.

Rolling my head on the back of the tub I tried to think about the current situation I found myself in with Edward. but no matter how hard I tried, I kept going back to the creepy sensation I always got from James, and on top of that his breaking and entering stunt.

Not even ten minutes after I had gotten in the tub there was a knock at the door. I ignored it at first but it only got more persistent. It could have been Alice or Rose, they wouldn't have been able to get in since I locked the dead bold and chain.

Groaning I pulled myself from the tub I grabbed one of the white towels on the counter by the sink. Wrapping it around myself, I headed for the door. The Cranberries "When You're Gone" played in the background as I reached for the handle.

The closer I got to the door, I noticed that the knocks were loud, too loud to be Alice or Rose. I assumed it was probably James, not done with his creep fest yet, and most likely pissed that I had locked the door so that he couldn't get in.

"Well, at least you freaking knocked this time James." I gritted out between my teeth while pulling the door open. Expecting to see James' face in the doorway, I was taken back when I saw the face of a god that was there instead.

"Oh, um I'm sorry," Edward ran his hand through his hair and looked at me in my towel his face suddenly was flushed with a tint of red. "Is this a bad time? I mean cuz if it is I could come back. I'm just next door, it's not a problem, um look I'll um go and then ahh you can come find me?"

It was cute and endearing how he was mumbling and blushing, he really was out of practice.

He turned to walk back down the hall shaking his head muttering to himself. Quickly I grabbed his arm, the ever present tingle radiating through my skin just from the simple skin to skin contact with him. "Wait, you can come in. I don't mind, really."

Turning back around I locked eyes with him and my knees quaked. I started to bite my lip to keep myself from doing anything stupid. "Come in please."

As I slowly pulled him into my room I let go of his arm once I had the door closed behind him. "Stay in here if you want I'll be right back."

I ran and skidded into the room with the king sized bed. Running over to the closet I had no clue what to put on, did I put on an actually well thought out outfit or do I just throw something on? _Dammit I needed Alice!_

Without my little personal clothing elf, I decided to just throw on a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt. I quickly pulled my hair out of the clip I had it in and shook my head trying to re-fluff my hair.

Still not quite sure why I felt the sudden need to make myself look good for Edward of all people, I made my way back into the main part of the room.

Edward had seen me at my best and my worst way back when, this time was no different other then the fact that he still didn't realize who I was. I couldn't help but wonder how much longer this game could continue without him figuring it all out, he really was quite unobservant.

Edward was sitting at the little table shaking his head back and forth pulling at his hair muttering something about being so stupid. As hard as I tried I couldn't keep the grin from creeping on my face. He looked so cute all embarrassed, it wasn't a side of him I had seen very often. He used to be so sure of everything he did, but this new Edward was the exact opposite.

"You know, if you keep pulling at your hair it's going to fall out." I said to him jokingly, he jumped a mile not realizing I had come back into the room.

"Ha, ya this mop is a curse. Everyone loves it but it drives me insane."

"Oh I know," I said under my breath.

"Huh?" _damn he was more observant then I thought._

"Nothing, I just said oh I see." That probably wasn't one of my best lies but it was all I could manage to pull out quickly without looking slow.

"Oh gotcha," Edward slowly stood up from the chair and walked across the room so that he was right in front of me.

His sweet breath was tickling my face making my head swim. I could feel my knees start to buckle again. Slowly I backed up until my legs hit the bed and I sat down, the last thing I wanted or needed was to fall in front of him.

He kneeled down before me so that his head was just a little below mine. Edward's hands tentatively reached up for the bed and settled on either side of my legs.

"I wanted to apologize-" I quickly cut him off by putting my finger up to his lips.

As pissed off as I was at the beach but then with what I had found out this morning I understood more then ever that he actually was hurt, he wasn't faking. He just didn't know how to go about being in public again and how to feel comfortable putting himself out there again. The last thing I need to hear from him was an apology. I had a better idea of what he was going through then he would have ever been able to imagine.

He tenderly placed a chaste kiss on my finger, the sparks literally flying off his lips onto my finger as he pulled away. He grabbed my hand and put it down onto my lap gently. "Please let me finish, I need to."

I nodded my head begging him to continue. If we were to spend anymore time together alone I didn't think I could stop myself from telling him who I actually was.

"I'm sorry for what I did at the beach," his voice cracked as he spoke and he rubbed at his face. "I don't know what I am doing anymore. I used to be so good at this, so sure of myself but now I'm a mess."

My vision was blurred from the tears starting to collect. A few slowly spilt over, he reached up lovingly and wiped them away. Drawing a long trembling breath he continued.

"Please don't, it's not you, I'm just so fucked up." His hands balled up into fists, he was getting pissed at himself.

"I don't think you are for what it's worth." I couldn't have him thinking he was the only train wreck, we both were.

A small smile played at his lips and he pushed against the bed standing before me. "Word's may fail me sometimes, well actually a lot of times, but there is a song I want you to listen to, I think it will explain the things I can't."

"Ok?"

He slowly made his way to the door to exit the room. With his hand on the handle he looked over his shoulder and said "Find Muse's song "Unintended", I'm sorry again."

The door clicked closed. I was left in a state of complete shock and disbelief. I knew the song but I had to hear it.

Hesitantly I made my way into the bathroom where my ipod was still sitting. Clicking through the different albums I found the one I was looking for.

Listening to the slow guitar intro I gently slid to the floor pulling up legs to my chin grabbing them with my arms. I listened to the haunting lyrics fill the bathroom while I tried to keep the searing pain in my chest from consuming me. Tears were free falling from my eyes as I rocked back and forth trying to figure out what the hell I was to do now.

_You could be my unintended choice_

_To live my life extended_

_You could be the one I'll always love_

_You could be the one who listens to my deepest inquisitions_

_You could be the one I'll always love_

_I'll be there as soon as I can _

_But I'm busy mending myself_

_Pieces of the life I had before_

_First there was the one who challenged _

_All my dreams and all my balance_

_She could never be as good as you_

_You could be my unintended choice _

_To live my life extended_

_You should be the one I'll always love_

_I'll be there as soon as I can_

_But I'm busy mending myself_

_Pieces of the life I had before_

_I'll be there as soon as I can_

_But I'm busy mending myself _

_Pieces of the life I had before_

_Before you_

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**Love? Hate? Please be kind and review (not as catchy as be kind and rewind but eh it works) lol reviews make my day!!! Thank you all for reading!!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer- I don't own Twilight or any of the character's within..**

**A.N-As you guy's can tell I changed the title to "I'd Find You Anywhere" instead of "Shifted" the new titles fits soo much better for where the story is going to go now so I hope no one is to upset with me :) Thank you for the amazing reviews I love them all! Huge Thanks to A Cullen Wannabe for fixing my woopsies :) There is a polyvore link in my profile of the girls outfits if you want to check that out too! I'll stop rambling so that you can get to the good stuff now! Enjoy....**

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"Train Wreck"

I spent the rest of the day taking refuge in the bathroom. I listened to the song over and over again.

I had no clue what I was going to do. I knew at the very least he deserved to know the new girl he was falling for was the girl that he loved all along. I owed that to him. I needed to tell him that I was safe and sound and as alright as could be.

But at the same token as much as I need to tell him everything , I needed to hear it all from him as well. I have wanted an explanation of what happened that night for so long now. It was the black cloud over anything that could come.

Eventually Alice made it back to the hotel room beating Rose back. She could hear my sobbing and tried to break down the door unsuccessfully when I refused to let her in. Once she threatened to go get Jasper to break down the door since she tried and failed I finally relented and opened it.

The whole time I was crying she held on to me and told me that it would all be ok. When Rose finally made it back she started to let Emmett into our room , but once she heard me crying and Alice trying to sooth me she shoved him right back out into the hall.

All three of us sat on the bathroom floor Indian style as I explained everything that had happened while they were gone and how I now felt compelled to tell Edward who I was, regardless of the outcome. Also that if they were going to be in the room, that they needed to make sure it was completely secure because James could be anywhere.

Dr. Alice decided that the best prescription for us all was a night out , no men, strictly us girls going out dancing, drinking, and enjoying the music and what Miami had to offer. Rosalie agreed saying something along the lines of 'no more sausage worries for a night'.

We had all figured in sitting down with the guys on Friday and telling them everything. Not only was I risking the whole kit and caboodle telling them, Alice and Rose were afraid that the guys might be offended because they were getting close and they didn't say anything to them. How everything was going to turn out was a coin toss none of us knew for sure.

We would be dancing at the Cauis' club on Thursday , so going out Wednesday was a perfect option for us. We wanted one last hurrah, because the next few days were still a mystery as to how they would pan out. No matter how hard I tried to shake it, I couldn't get rid of the feeling that we were experiencing the calm before the storm.

________________________________________

By the time Wednesday evening rolled around I was ready to commit murder. More specifically , Rose and I were planning an elaborate scheme to end the dictating pixie named Alice's life.

She had been primping and preening us all day long. She was unrel enting; I almost questioned her to see if she was once a drill instructor, but as soon as I started to part my lips to ask, I was reprimanded for opening my mouth while she was trying to pick out the perfect pants for me to wear. _Yes_ _she had gotten that scary, _none of us were allowed to even pee without confirmation from her first, and food was not an option either. Rose and I couldn't wait for her to be done so that we could have the regular, plain, overzealous, happy go lucky Alice back.

" Alright," Alice said sounding a little more chipper than she had earlier in the day. Both Rose and I stood up mocking like we were standing at a position of attention as she walked back and forth in front of us, her index finger tapping at her chin in time with the beat of the music in the background. "I believe you two bitches are my latest masterpieces, I don't know if I'll ever be able to out do myself after this night."

She blew on her fingers and rubbed them off on her shoulder like she was buffing her nails after a long day of work. "Go look in the mirror if you don't believe me, jeez!"

Rose and I hightailed it to the bathroom. All day long we hadn't been allowed to look in a mirror we knew what our outfits looked like but it wasn't anything like having the full picture. The suspense was killing us, especially after seeing how amazing Alice looked all day long while she was getting us ready, I couldn't wait.

Alice was wearing a tight form fitting purple dress with a black belt cinching at her waist. Sh e had on a pair of killer leather boots that came up to her knees and made her a few inches taller. Her hair was styled like usual for her in the short spiky perfection only she could pull off, her eyelids were shaded a matching purple shade making her blue eyes pop.

Standing in front of the mirror I gasped. I reached out and touched the mirror; the gorgeous figure in the reflection mimicked my action. Alice was right, she had truly out done herself again; she was a fashion goddess among mere mortals.

Looking my face over I saw that Alice had done the same smoky dark black and gray eye shadow she had done before, my lips were tinted a bright red. My hair was straight and left down, last minute she had decided to add a black fedora with a gray band to "top" the outfit off as she had put it.

My eyes slowly raked over what I was wearing. Out of everything that I had on, I was most afraid of the pants, _yes afraid of pants_. Alice and Rose were wearing dresses and I almost wished she had picked out one for me as well. Instead I had ended up with a pair of tight black legging-pant things. They looked as if my legs were painted black and actually had nothing on, they were that tight. On the top half of me Alice had picked out a gun metal gray corset top that had a leather belt right under my chest added to it.

Rose was lucky in my opinion with what she got to wear. She was wearing a simple tight black dress with a bright red belt making the dress seem tighter. Alice also managed to find her heels that had a bunch of different red tones in them. Her eyelids were also a smoky perfection and her golden blonde locks cascaded down in loose curls.

"Soooooo?" Alice peeked into the bathroom.

Rose and I both tackled her. I was in awe of what she pulled off with me, even if I was afraid to breathe in what I was wearing for fear I would pop out. However, I was surprised by Rosalie's display, she knew she was good looking and she knew how to work it too.

"Ugh, get off me you crazies we are going to miss the cab." Alice tried to sound annoyed, but she couldn't stop laughing as she was yelling at us.

Walking through the hotel we were apprehensive, we didn't know who we would run into if anyone. None of us wanted to run into the guys and potentially have to bump up the plans of exposing me from Friday to tonight. We still didn't really know how it would go over, if at all.

Personally I didn't want to run into James after he surprised me by appearing in the room. Since that day I had been avoiding him and luckily haven't had a run in since, I could only imagine what he would say if he saw what I was wearing. His creepy factor increased exponentially after that incident and I didn't want to be anywhere near him if I could help it.

Running into Jane and Heidi would have been more of an annoyance than anything. We hadn't seen much of them since Rose and Alice almost attacked them the other night in the elevator, which should make Thursday night interesting seeing how we all had to work together.

We made it to the bright yellow taxi sitting out in front without any incident. Once we were inside and had the door closed I let out a sigh of relief. Looking around the parking lot as the cab pulled out I noticed that Edward's Volvo was missing.

Eventually we pulled up to the front of a club called Ink. There was a bit of a line waiting to get into the club. It was mostly guys in the line, a few girls scattered throughout. Some looked like they weren't dressed for a club at all; the others were hanging on a guy. All three of us lined up outside of the cab and started for the end of the line. There were a few hoots and hollers from the guys in the line. Alice looked over and gave them a petite little wave.

"Hey!" a loud booming voice broke through the air. We looked over in the direction of the bouncer letting people in. "Ladies," he motioned us over to him. "You all don't have to stand in line."

And with that he lifted the rope and we were allowed instant access into the club. "See, I told you tonight is _OUR_ night," Alice said while linking arms with me and Rose.

The club had a tint of red to it being given off by the lights. There was dark colored fabric hanging from everywhere. On one wall there was a huge bar that looked like it took up one whole side of the club. Across from the bar was a sitting area there were little cubes used for tables and booths, and on the far wall was what looked to be a VIP section that had circular tables and couches that followed the shape of the tables.

On the walls there were different forms of tattoo designs. Some walls had what looked like old school flash others had what looked to be tribal designs. The club looked amazing; I had never seen anything like it before.

Walking over to the bar, Rose ordered us all a round of shots. The liquor helped put an edge to the omniscient feeling of anxiety that I had. Six drinks later on an empty stomach and I could barely remember why I felt my life sucked so badly. I felt good, not hold onto the grass cuz you might fall off the earth good, but pretty damn close.

I pulled the girls over to the dance floor and we started dancing. We were having a blast with not a care in the world. The starting intro to Missy Elliot's "Ching-A-Ling" came on and we all freaked out jumping all over the place. It had always been a joke song between us since she mentioned stripper's butts and swinging from poles in it.

Alice and Rose were grinding up against each other laughing at all the guys whose mouths fell open looking at them. I had a hold of Rose's hands shaking with her. As I was dancing shaking my hips back and forth, I felt a warm body come up behind me and wrap a big muscular arm around me. I leaned back into his embrace and rubbed against him resting the back of me head on his chest, _holy shit he's tall._ Looking up I saw a familiar face from the beach. I spun around and put my arms around his neck.

"Jakkkkeee, what the fuck are you doing here?" I purred into his ear, or at least as close to his ear as I could get since he was so freaking tall.

"I could ask you the same thing hot stuff."

He grabbed my hips and pulled me close to him, grinding himself on me. Shakira's "She Wolf" came on and we kept dancing. The heat and the alcohol were having an effect on me and my head was spinning. I closed my eyes and pushed my forehead into Jake's chest. Slowly he moved one of his hands up my back. Once he reached the skin of my bare shoulder he started to draw lazy circles with his thumb.

I pushed my head off of his chest and looked up into his eyes. They were smoldering with desire and want. Rocking forward onto my tippy toes I started to kiss at base of his neck licking and nipping my way up, _he's not Edward,_ kept playing over and over in my head chastising myself.

When I couldn't reach any further he reached down and grabbed me right under my bottom and pulled me farther up him. Feeling weightless in his arms, I leaned forward and drew his ear in between my lips and nibbled on it gently. I had no clue what I was doing, but I couldn't help myself. My mind kept screaming at me that it was the wrong guy, but my body kept saying any freaking guy would work at this point, the alcohol further helping my inhibitions take a vacation.

Jake groaned making my lips that now found a home on his neck tingle from the noise. His body instantly took a possessive hold onto me and his groan turned more into a growl. I pulled my head back from his neck and looked up to his face. His lips were turned into almost a sneer. "Are you sure you don't have a fucking stalker?"

His comment made me freeze. I quickly forced myself down from him and put my feet back underneath myself as I spun around still staying in his grasp.

I looked around and saw that Alice and Rose were still dancing without a care in the world, he clearly wasn't talking about them. Then I noticed a huge guy, a bronze headed guy, and a lanky blonde, _ahh the trifecta of my nightmares, _making their way over to where we were dancing.

"Shit!" I tried to move out of Jake's embrace, but he just pulled me tighter to him. I turned back around and grabbed his neck and pulled his head closer to mine. "Look I don't have a stalker, they weren't supposed to be here, give me a minute to talk to them."

" Fine, I needed a drink anyway," and with that he disappeared into the sea of people heading towards the bar. That was one train wreck adverted and a whole other one coming my way. _If two trains are traveling at maximum speed towards each other at what point will they collide.. _

I grabbed Alice and Rose's arms and pulled them towards me. It was too late to escape, but I had to tell them who was coming our way. "_They_ are here." I quickly pointed over there shoulders to the three guys getting closer and closer to us.

"Shit," they both said in unison.

"Do we run?" Alice looked panicked. Rose was looking around for viable escape routes.

"We can't, we've been spotted. Just act like there is nothing up." They both looked at me wide eyed like I was nuts. "Just dance and what not with them and then we will make a casual exit. We will make up some bullshit like Alice drank too much and she thinks she's gonna be sick."

"I think I may be anyway."

"Shut up Al! Let's just have fun." I was impressed by Rose's quick remark. "You wanted us to have a fun last hurrah, it's just a slight change in plans."

"Fine," Alice finally relented. We really didn't have any other option. At least not an option that wouldn't make us look like we had officially lost our minds.

"Well thank you darling, but I'd have to say you take the cake tonight." The guys had finally made their way over to where we were

Alice's blush was even obvious with the red lighting in the club, she bit her lip in a nervous way and looked up at Jasper from under her eyelashes. "Thanks."

Jasper growled a 'god' at her and grabbed her by the waist as she giggled and started dancing with him. Emmett grabbed Rose's hand and twirled her around whispering something in her ear, causing her to giggle and slap at his chest.

Edward approached me slowly. He had one hand out and the other tangled in his hair. I took the few steps forward closing the space in between us. His hand that was out grabbed me at the small of my back and pulled me so that I was flush against him.

I was already gasping for breath when I looked at what he was wearing but being pushed up against him almost sent me over the edge. I could feel every tight sinewy muscle under the dress pants and dress shirt he was wearing. Being pushed up against him made me regret what I had just done with Jake earlier; I wished it were Edward that I was all over not Jake.

Edward's hand that previously had a home in his hair slowly traveled down my back to rest on my bottom and push me even harder against him. A quiet moan escaped from my lips, being up against him reminded me how right he felt and how much I missed him physically. He was not the only one that hadn't gotten any in 3 years.

Reaching up I grabbed at the nape of his neck, brought my hands around to the front, and pulled at the open collar of his shirt. My lips were right next to his ear, barely skimming them as I whispered to him "How'd you find me again?"

"I'd find you anywhere," his cool mint breath with a hint of what smelled like Jack Daniels fanned out across my ear and tingled down my neck lighting my body on fire. If only he knew the gravity of that statement. He had been searching for three years and found me. "God you look amazing."

"Thank...Alice," was all I could mutter out. I felt like I was a second away from spontaneous combustion. My head was swimming between the alcohol from before and being so close to Edward.

"Hmm," the vibration of his voice made me want to throw him against a wall and ravage him right then and there. "Remind me to buy her something nice." He said while laughing and nuzzling his head into mine.

Slowly the pulsing beat of the music became too much to just stand still to anymore as our bodies started to rock synchronizing with the music surrounding us. My eyes slowly slid closed and I started to dance harder against him wishing there was nothing in between us. His hands kept tracing up and down my back, every time he got to the bare expanse of my back, my skin instantly goose bumped under his touch even though I was sweating.

I lost count of how many songs we spent wrapped up in each other. I never noticed Jake coming back; I figured he had seen Edward and me and decided to just leave us alone. Even though we were in a packed club, bodies everywhere, I felt as if it was only Edward and me alone, lost in the moment.

"I know who you are," a quiet voice slowly drawled in my ear.

Instantly I was thrown back into reality by a voice that didn't belong to Edward, it was Jasper. I hadn't even noticed that he was standing right by us. Looking over my left shoulder, I saw him standing there with his arms crossed and his lips in a tight line.

Groaning I pushed myself back from Edward. I didn't want him to find out this way, it was all going wrong. Edward looked down at me, hurt reflecting in his eyes. "Babe, wait where are you going?"

God, him calling me babe felt so right and wrong at the same time. "I have to talk to Jasper. I'm just going to go outside with him real quick."

I spun around on my heel and grabbed Jasper's forearm pulling him through the sea of people. Finally, once we were through and outside I released his arm, I turned to the left and headed toward the alley. When I felt that we were far enough away from the people outside I turned around and crossed my arms in front of my chest, suddenly feeling cold and alone, a drastic change from just a few minutes ago.

"Explain," I grounded out between my teeth, I wasn't going to give him any hints.

"Don't get a fucking attitude with me," my mouth popped open. He was yelling at me as if I was his freaking child. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"What the hell do you mean what I am doing?" I dropped my arms to my sides my fists instantly balled up. "I was dancing."

"Funny, real freaking funny Bella." My eyes must have popped out of my head once he mentioned my name because he started to chuckle darkly. "What, you didn't think I couldn't tell? Edward might be in a constant state of denial and self pity but I know exactly who the hell you are."

" I don't know what you are talking about." _Play dumb, play dumb, maybe he'll buy it._

" Bella stop playing dumb." _Shit, abort mission, repeat that's an abort mission. _"Why are you doing this? Do you even know how much of a freaking train wreck he has been since you left?"

"My life has been peachy keen since that night too Jasper, thanks for asking!" I yelled back at him. "He was the one who fucked up, why the hell are you taking his side?"

" Did you ever find out his side of the story?" he paused before continuing. I scoffed out loud _the only side to his story that he had was that fucking strawberry blonde and I saw every side of her._ "You didn't you just ran!"

My blood had reached a boiling point I felt as if steam was about to pour out of my ears. "Fuck you Jasper, you don't know shit! How dare you?"

"You're right, I don't know all of it, but I do know you hurt him so freaking bad Bella, you broke him." His voice was beginning to crack and falter. "We had to beg him to go on this vacation and try to convince him that he could move on, and then you appear. He's falling for you again and he doesn't even realize who the hell you are."

"I didn't move on either! Don't tell me about all the shit he has gone through, it doesn't even come close, you have no fucking clue!"

Suddenly a question popped into my head that I had been dying to know ever since that night regardless of what the answer would be. "How long?" I had to know if it was a one time deal or if it was a regular thing, I never could figure out.

"What?"

Tears were pooling in my eyes now and I looked up to the sky wishing them away. "You heard me Jasper, how long?"

"That's not my answer to give Bella"

"What the hell do you mean that's not your answer to give! You had to have known what was going on."

"Bella you're asking the right questions to the wrong person." His voice was pleading with me. "Please you have got to tell him, you have to let him know who you are."

"I can't, he'd never understand…"

"It's because of your son isn't it?" I damn near fell over dead from shock.

"What?" My eyes were wide with shock and fear.

"Your son, Jackson," he said in a tone that sounded like he was talking to a child again annunciation every syllable. "Look, Edward will understand if you moved on. He just needs to know that you're ok and that you're happy now."

My body was trembling with un-released anger I was far from happy. "You're fucking dense aren't you? You don't know shit about my life now or what I have been through the past 3 years! Do I look happy to you?"

Suddenly you could see the gears turning in his head putting things together. "Wait… wait Jackson is his isn't he?" He didn't wait for me to respond before continuing. "He fucking is! You left him with his freaking child and he has no clue! How could you do that to him?"

"That isn't your fucking question to ask!" I stated turning his previous words around on him. I stomped past him and headed for the front of the club.

"Bella wait," I looked over my shoulder to see him trying to catch up to me. "Jesus Christ Isabella, freaking stop for a second."

"No Jasper, as far as I'm concerned this fucking conversation is over." I yelled back over my shoulder.

I heard his feet hitting against the ground as he ran up to catch me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to turn and face him. "I'm not going to tell him Bella, but you have got to tell him yourself. God help me if you disappear again, I'm telling him everything."

I started to get into a cab that was sitting out in front of the club. "What are you threatening me now?"

"No, I'm promising," he slammed the door closed in my face while my mouth hung open. I turned and begged the driver to get the hell out of there.

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**So there you have it!!! Next chapter will be EPOV! Hope you liked this chapter it made my Beta squeal lol**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer-still don't own Twilight or anything within**

**Author's Note- Thank you for all the amazing reviews last chapter!! I broke 100!!!!!! A special thanks to Sofi, , and hoplessromanticatheart, there was no way to reply to you guys soo I wanted to give you all a special thanks!!!!**

**I also have to thank 4ever Outspoken and her words of encouragement and her daily flattery to get me to write faster LOL**

**Big thank you to A Cullen Wannabe as usual she saved me from making embarrassing grammar and spelling mistakes thank you girlie!!!!**

**This is the much awaited EPOV chapter, please enjoy!! I'm going to try and get a couple polyvore links up to what the girls are wearing as well if you want to check that out!! Also the title of this chapter is a song from The Airborne Toxic Event, it's a good song I recommend it lol!**

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"Sometime Around Midnight"

I kept my eyes trained on the doorway and the large expanse of people waiting for Jasper and _her _to come back in. I still couldn't quite put my finger on what was running through Jasper's head. He wanted me to move on and pick up the pieces of me and now he was taking the best thing I had came across since Bella to talk or whatever it was he had planned.

Bella was always the angel of my nightmares, I missed her so fucking much that most of the time I couldn't tell if it was day or night. My life turned into a dark hole of monotony. At first I had absolutely despised Emmett and Jasper for dragging me on this trip. They thought it would help me forget.

I didn't want to forget, I needed Bella, she was everything to me and one stupid fucking mistake screwed it up. I'm a monster that doesn't deserve to forget, I hurt her. She was the one I really loved and would always love until I could see that she moved on and had found someone better then me.

Their efforts to get me to 'get back in the game' as Emmett put it were almost a lost cause until I saw her standing by the bar fiddling with her cell phone. Her long creamy white legs begged for me to touch them and her brown hair reminded me greatly of Bella's but it was a little bit darker.

When she looked up at me my breath faltered and I'm pretty sure my heart skipped a beat as well. Her face was long and absolutely gorgeous; the way she nibbled at her lip when she was nervous or worried drove me nuts, in a good way.

I wanted to tell her everything that I had been through, every damned emotion that I had raging through my body. I felt that I had to; there was just something about her. I could feel from her that she could help me put myself back together; she was what I needed to become whole. Something told me that her life hadn't been that easy either and that maybe, just maybe, we could fix each other. She was my missing piece.

I had always thought that Bella was my one and only but meeting her shifted my prospective, she had everything I was looking for. She was funny, witty, compassionate, and confident.

Bella was never confident and it drove me nuts that she never saw herself like I did, and no matter how much I tried to convince her other wise she would never listen. That was one of the reasons why I did what I did on that fateful night.

Tanya was always so confident and she had always been interested in me. She was Kate's older sister and happened to be home from college. We had met up a few times and hung out, but nothing more than that. But the night of the party it hit me that my high school years were over and I really had only been with one girl, Bella. I couldn't help but wonder if maybe we were moving too fast and if we were just staying together for a matter of convenience.

Boy did I get a slap in the face that night! Not only was I disgusted with myself, the love of my life showed up and caught whatever was about to happen, it was a cruel poetic justice.

I was so afraid that I would be "stuck" with Bella, and at the end of it all that was what I actually wanted. Looking at my friends who went from girl to girl I had thought I wanted that at the time, I thought it was just what teenagers did. I just wish to this day that I had gotten right up after her and followed her and explained. My life would be so different if I had.

I was so young and stupid back then. I didn't know how good I had it, but that was the past and this is now. If what happened that fateful night hadn't occurred, I wouldn't be chasing after a girl named Izzy who has everything I could ever want and more. I just had to keep reminding myself to put one foot in front of the other and not look back.

Alice and I danced together for a few dances, getting bored waiting for Jasper and Iz to come back in. It was nice dancing with her, but it was nothing like the electrifying feeling I felt touching Iz.

Finally I caught a glimpse of Jasper pushing and shoving his way through the crowd making his way to us. When he got to us I could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves. He grabbed Alice by the arm and pulled her away, taking her off to a secluded corner.

I was thoroughly confused; Alice and I were just keeping each other occupied while they were out talking. All we were doing was dancing, innocently in my opinion. I looked over and saw that Emmett had the same confused bewildered look on his face that I was pretty sure was also on my face.

Jasper and Alice finally reappeared; Alice looked as if she was a deer in headlights. You could clearly see the whites of her eyes. She grabbed Rose and whispered something into her ear. "Um, sorry we have to go!" Rose yelled while pulling Alice towards the door.

"What the hell just happened dude?" Emmett grabbed Jasper by the shoulder and pulled him closer to us so that we weren't yelling as badly over the music.

"I uh went out and started talking to Iz and she got sick," Jasper was nervously playing with the hem on the bottom of his shirt, something was off. "I got her into a cab and she went back to the hotel."

"Poor Spoons she prolly drank too much." Emmett had taken to calling Iz Spoons after the first day we met her and talked to her.

"Yeah, I guess," I nervously ran my hand through my hair. I couldn't help but shake the feeling that she left because of me not because of some alcohol. That would be just my fucking luck. I finally start to get close to a girl again and then I scare her off. _Way to go Cullen!_

"Ya'll wanna get out of here?" Jasper started to walk through the crowd not even waiting for a response or us; Emmett looked at me and raised an eyebrow. He noticed that something was going on as well.

Making it outside we saw Jasper standing by the parking lot waiting for us leaned up against my car with his arms crossed. I threw my keys at him. Originally I didn't plan on drinking but when I saw her there and dancing with another guy I needed a ego booster.

The car ride was absolutely silent. I didn't think Emmett was even breathing over all the car radiated an eerie feeling, something that reminded me of impending doom. I wanted to ask Jasper what the hell went on so badly but I couldn't get my mouth to cooperate. I didn't really have a reason to question the validity of his story with out seeming accusing.

When we got back into our room Jasper stormed off into the bathroom, slamming the door, eventually we heard the shower turn on. Emmett flopped in the chair in front of the TV and turned on some action movie.

My mind was elsewhere. I was internally debating whether or not to go and knock on her door. If she was sick I wouldn't mind seeing her, I needed to know that she was ok and that she didn't leave because of something I did. I know I pushed my boundaries tonight but I didn't want her to feel like I was shoving her along with me. I kept pacing back and forth almost making it to the door and then deciding to turn around at the last minute.

Eventually Emmett noticed the track I was slowly wearing in the carpet. "Dude, just go over there and knock on the door already. You're driving me freaking nuts pacing like a fucking cat on a hot tin roof." Jesus I must have been obvious if Emmett noticed, I gave him a quick nod and headed out the door.

I stood looking at the door like it would electrocute me if I touched it. I raised my hand a few times to try to knock, but ended up chickening out. I had no clue what I was doing or how to go about it.

Bella broke me so long ago and I had no one that I felt worthy enough of to want to try and put myself back out there for. I fucked our lives up so bad for nothing. If only she had stayed around I could have explained to her what happened and begged her to stay. I didn't think I could fully move on from Bella without seeing her just once and making sure she was ok.

Maybe that was why I was so interested in Iz, she reminded me so much of Bella, personality and looks wise. Granted she was ballsier then Bella but hell that was one of the things I found more endearing about her. I needed someone who would keep me in my place and pick my sorry ass up and throw me back out there.

Finally I apprehensively knocked on the door. I needed Iz and whether she knew it yet, she was who would put me back together. I could have shitless if she was puking, I wanted to be the one there holding her hair rubbing her back telling her that she was going to be ok, I felt a primal need to be in there with her.

"Oh it's you Edward?" Rose's tone caught me off guard. Something was defiantly up, I tried to look around her and see if I could see Iz anywhere but there wasn't enough of the door open.

"Yeah it's just me. Um is she ok?" I nervously ran my hands through my hair; I really had no fucking clue what I was doing. "Can I see her?"

"Not tonight Edward. I'm sorry, she fell asleep already."

Right as I was about to open my mouth the door was unceremoniously slammed in my face. I was left standing there stunned, mouth agape. I couldn't stop feeling like something was going on and Emmett and I were the only ones left out in the cold.

I started to head back to my room and right when I reached out for the handle I heard a door open from the end of the hall that the girls were staying. I quickly looked off to my left and saw that the door across from Iz's was the one who opened. Suddenly a little bright blonde hair girl who looked like she was jail bait appeared in the doorway.

"You must be Eddie boy," I didn't like the tone she had or the fact that she called me Eddie; I had no clue who she was. "I'm Jane, I work with them." She stuck up her pointer finger and pointed at Iz's door.

"Look, we are working tomorrow night at Oasis, you should come and bring your little buddies too, we'd love to see you." And with that she quickly turned back around winking over her shoulder and went back in her room. Pushing my door opened I was completely bewildered. This evening was turning into one huge cluster fuck of confusion.

"What happened?"

"Nothing Em, she fell asleep but I did get a tid-bit of interesting news." I plopped down in the chair next to him. "The girls are performing at some club tomorrow night called Oasis."

"Hm, we should go," Emmett was getting excited he had a gleam in his eyes "It would be fun and hell I know I wouldn't mind watching Rose shake her ass on a stage."

I rolled my eyes, of course that would be the only thing he would be worried about. "Ha yeah and what about the club full of other men watching Rose shake her ass?"

"Eh."

"_Eh_ ? You, the man of many words, can only say eh?" I looked over to see him grab his chin with his hand in a thinking position, _this should be interesting._

"I just say eh cuz I could care less if other guys are watching Rose, as long as I know at the end of the night she's coming home with me." He started to pretend to air hump the air and raise his eyebrows.

"You've got awfully high hopes," I said laughing and shaking my head.

The bathroom door creaked open and we both looked over to see Jasper emerge in a plume of steam.

"What are you little old ladies gossiping about?" He seemed to be in a better mood, but his eyes still looked like he was pained.

"Eddie here got an interesting piece of information."

"What?" Jasper was quick to ask like there was something that I was clearly missing and he knew the answer to it.

"The girls are dancing tomorrow night." Emmett wiggled his eyebrows at Jasper trying to convey just what kind of dancing they would be doing.

"Emmett you idiot, they were dancing tonight too, so what?" Jasper seemed to be more and more in his own little world, he completely missed Em's innuendo.

"What he means is on a stage with barely anything on." I added shaking my head still not believing that Jasper was so clueless.

"Oh" Jasper stood there a little while running his hands through his hair. He looked like he was having a huge internal debate. "I don't think we should go."

Emmett and I looked at each other wide eyed. This wasn't the normal Jasper, something was off. I could understand his apprehension. I personally didn't want to see Iz dancing while a bunch of guys drooled over her, but with the same token, it gave me a chance to see her again. It also gave me an in to make sure she was ok, and furthermore it was her choice. That's how she wanted to make a living and obviously Jackson, whoever that guy was, didn't have a problem with her dancing.

"You guys really want to see them dancing for other guys taking there clothes off?"

"Nice try Jasper, I have already tried that debate with him." Jasper looked back and forth between us, his expression seemed like he wanted to say something but he was holding back.

"Edward you really want to go and watch other girls dance?" he was grasping at straws now, he was trying to find anyway to get Em and me change our minds.

"Eh," it was all I could manage to say. I really didn't want to watch other girls dance or for Iz to have to dance for other guys, but I did have to see her and I wanted to make sure she knew I supported her regardless of what her profession was.

Emmett looked over at me with a shit eating grin and fist bumped me. He probably had thought that my saying eh meant I had the same reasoning as him, but I had no intention of bringing Iz back here and sleeping with her.

"Fine we will go, but if ya'll throw a fucking fit cuz there are other guys looking at the girls, I'm not breaking up any fights." Jasper then stormed off into his room and slammed the door.

I looked over to Emmett my eyebrows raised, I had no clue what had just happened. "What the hell?"

"I don't know man, something is off with him."

________________________________________________________

Walking up to the club my palms were sweating and my heart was racing. I had no freaking clue what the hell I was doing here or how things like this even worked. The music was playing loud enough that you could hear it clearly every time the front door opened to let some one in.

Going into the club I was surprised none of the bouncers laughed in my face. I know I looked like a little kid waiting to get caught by his parents for something bad. I couldn't help it I was so lost; every bit of this was new to me. Emmett strolled in like he had been at the club a million times. Jasper looked like he was looking around every corner waiting for the boogey man to jump out in front of him. We must have been a sight to see, the three of us walking in together, one who was so nervous he was literally shaking, one who was overly excited, and another who looked like he was walking through a house of horrors.

The club was pretty refined looking, well at least as well as a strip club can look when it comes to class. The walls were white and covered in different black patterns that intricately weaved in and out of shapes and over some of the black tables hung low dark chandeliers. Throughout the club you could see different accents of black, there were black flowers on some of the tables and black feathers here and there. There was black fabric draped all throughout as well. If the walls weren't white under the design I had a feeling it would be impossible to see anything within the room it would all be too dark. In the middle of the room there was a t shaped stage with a pole at the end, once I spotted that I had to swallow, this was really happening. I was about to watch a girl that I thought was the epitome of everything dance for money.

We sat at a little table a row or two back from right up against the stage. Emmett wanted to be right up front by the pole, but neither Jasper nor I wanted to do that so we compromised by sitting semi close but not all the way in the back. Jasper noticed a bar over in the back corner when we had came in and offered to go get us some drinks.

Eventually he finally came strolling back over with three bottles of beer. I had no clue what took him so long to get them. He was still acting off but not as bad as he was last night after we got back to the hotel from the club.

"Here," he said while handing us each a bottle. I took a long swig of it, hoping that if I drank it fast enough it would help with my nerves. Setting the bottle down, I absent absentmindedly started picking at the label on the beer. "Nervous?"

Jasper was staring at the mess that I was making out of my beer. "Obvious?"

He started to chuckle lightly and actually cracked a smile, the first one I had seen since yesterday. "Noooo, not at all," his voice was dripping with sarcasm and I couldn't help but laugh along with him.

The music raised another notch and the lights dimmed. My heart felt like it was two beats away from exploding out of my chest. I could only hope that they wouldn't start out with the girls first.

"Hello everybody out there!" There were a few hoots and hollers. The voice on the other end of the speaker sounded like he had a slight Italian accent. "Boy do we have a special night for you!" More cheering erupted at the idea of a special night; I knew what was making it so special it was our girls dancing instead of just the regulars. I looked up at Jasper and Emmett and they both had the same expression on their faces. "We have hot ladies visiting from out of town for you all!" By now everyone was cheering and I was pretty sure I was about to puke. "But first let's get some of our regular girls out here."

Collectively all of us at the table breathed out a sigh of relief. Slowly the stereotypical strip tease music started to echo throughout the club and a bleach blonde lady stepped out and started to dance. She looked like she had one too many cosmetic procedures and was about to burst. None of us at our table were even looking, which I found very surprising.

Three dancers and a lot of unnecessary breaks later, the dreaded moment had arrived. "Alright I hope you guys are all ready!" Everyone was yelling holding there drinks in the air. We were all looking between each other. This was it, there was no running now. "Buckle up your seat belts boys, for one night only, the girls from J-Ville!"

The club went completely dark. In the air you could feel a static buzz, people were talking amongst themselves and a few were randomly hollering, for unknown reasons. The lights suddenly came up and I saw 5 chairs set along the top to the stage away from the pole.

I saw the short little one named Jane come out first stomping across the stage and go to the chair the furthest to the right, a girl that I hadn't seen before followed behind her, Rose was smack dab in the middle, I heard Emmet let out a slight groan looking at what Rose was wearing. She had on a little pleated plaid skirt, knee high athletic socks, and extremely high heels on, her hair was in long piggy tails and she had a little bright pink top on. Iz was next and once I saw her I let out a huge breath that I didn't even realize I was holding until then. She looked amazing. Her hair reminded me of the first time I had seen her, it was in loose ringlets all over the place and had bright blonde and blue highlights randomly placed throughout. She was wearing a cut off wife beater and clearly she had nothing on underneath it, little blue boy shorts, and black heels, not as high as Rose's, but still hot none the less. She looked amazing in blue. I couldn't help it, I had to stare, but as much as I knew I was staring at her, I knew every other guy except for Jasper and Emmett was checking her out as she came out as well. It took everything I had in me not to run up there, rip off my shirt, and cover her up. Alice was the last to come out. Jasper slammed his beer on the table causing a little bit of it to bubble up and foam over the top. She was wearing a little gray bra and matching gray skirt with heels that looked like they should have stabbed thorough the floor they were so high.

The entire club was in an uproar now yelling and cheering waiting for the music to start. We all looked like we had seen a ghost, personally I didn't know whether to be excited or puke, it was a pretty even toss up. I noticed the three girls shared a bright smile and nod with each other right before any music started.

The music started up and everyone started cheering. I had no clue what the song was, all I knew was it was annoyingly censored. Every now and then while the people were singing an annoying beeping noise would sound, which I didn't understand. The singer was singing about how guys only want one thing.

I dared to look away from my now shredded label and looked up on stage. Iz looked amazing. They were all swinging their hips in time, using their chair as a prop, and stealing random glances at the crowd winking at guys who were tipping them.

"Catching flies?" Jasper said while laughing staring at me.

"Shut up, this song is driving me nuts and well, so are they." I pointed up towards the stage where they were now really getting into it and shaking like I had never seen before.

"It's Pussycat Dolls you idiot." How the hell Jasper knew this song I would never know and never want to know.

"You aren't supposed to worry about the music anyway Eddie." Emmett added without ever looking away from the stage.

I dared to steal another glance at the stage and saw that they were now sitting in the chairs, backs arched up. I had to bite my lip to keep from groaning out loud, Iz in a wife beater with no bra, _god damn._ They slowly slid down the chairs and shook there way back up straddling the chairs once they made it back up and threw there heads backwards. I could see there backs and shoulders popping in time with the heavy beat. At the last beep they each covered there mouths and looked like they were pretending to be innocent.

And just like that the club went dark again. _That wasn't so bad_, as long as they kept doing group dances and no guys specifically hit on Iz I could handle it, or at least I hoped I could. The last thing I needed to do was be over protective. I had no right to be, she wasn't with me, and any way she had Jackson waiting for her back in Jacksonville.

"Sooo, what did you all think?" The way he carried out the so drove me nuts, this wasn't a freaking baseball game. "Well the fun isn't over yet, some of the girls from Jacksonville are going to dance solo now!" Guys were yelling and hollering for who they wanted to see. I heard a few yell out send the brown haired one in blue out and my head instantly shot over to where they were. _Maybe I can't do this, way to set too high of goals fuck up._ I groaned, there was no way I would be able to sit in my chair and not run or go after the guys that were looking at her. I looked over at Jasper and Emmett and they were mirroring my sentiments. None of us wanted to hear what other guys would say about the girls.

"Alright boys calm down," I waited holding my breath to hear who would be next up. "This next special treat for you all," my stomach turned at the idea of a woman being called a treat, like she wasn't a person, "she is nicknamed the Swan, she is absolutely gorgeous and knows how to move, you guys know what to do."

Emmett and I looked at each other completely confused we had never heard of any of the girls be referred to as a Swan. Spoons, Rose, Iz, Alice, Al, annoying little pixie, bitches, you name it we had heard it all but Swan, that was a new one, maybe it was Jane or that other girl. That would work out the best for us mentally. Emmett shrugged and looked back to the stage waiting for whom ever they called the Swan to come out. I quickly glanced over to Jasper and saw that he was muttering to himself shredding his beer label now too, _what the fuck is going on?_

The lights dimly turned up and I looked up to the stage holding my breath again, willing my heart to keep beating. A distorted guitar sounded and a loud drum part followed, this song I knew, unlike the other, it was Seether's "Careless Whisper".

I saw a black heel with a blue stripe around it step out and my heart stopped and I almost fell out of my chair. It was Iz, she was the one the called the Swan. Jesus freaking Christ could she get any closer to being Bella without actually being her? Her nickname was Bella's last name; I shuddered at the sheer closeness.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jasper shaking his head back and forth harder muttering something about not coming. I looked up to see Iz slowly sauntering over to the pole. She had on an amazing blue satin skirt with a sheer ruffle around the bottom. There were black polka dots on the little skirt, and there was a matching blue and polka dot bra. If I thought she looked good in blue I was wrong, she looked fucking amazing in blue! I caught a glimmer of something around her neck; she must have been wearing her J necklace.

She grabbed the pole and started to slowly swing around it rolling her head backwards closing her eyes and singing along with the song. The moment was so intimate I wished I could kick everyone out of the club and let it be just me and her. Slowly she stopped spinning and grabbed onto the pole with one hand and wrapped her leg around it and started to climb up it painstakingly slowly, sliding back down just as slowly as she bent backwards and slid down till her feet hit the floor.

I was breaking out in a sweat now, I couldn't handle this. It all seemed like something that should have been for one person's eyes only, not a room full of drunk horny men. She bit her lip and slowly ran a hand up her body and backed into the pole and swiveled her hips dancing her way down to the ground. Guys were yelling at her and a lot of them were throwing money up on the stage. I couldn't have been more thankful that we decided to sit away from the stage because I would have surely jumped up there by now.

Listening to the lyrics I couldn't help but wonder if she was trying to send a message. _Tonight the music seems so loud, I wish that we could lose this crowd, Maybe it's better this way, We'd hurt each other with the thing's we'd wanna say, We could have been so good together, We could have lived this dance forever, But now who's gonna dance with me? Please stay!_

I kept replaying over and over in my head last night when were dancing. It was amazing. I couldn't have asked for anything more, the way she moved against me, the feel of her skin. I'd never be able to forget it. She'd never be able to get rid of me after that...I needed her.

"Go Bella baby, wooo!"

My head instantly snapped in the direction of the bar. There stood the guy I had seen lurking outside of her room a lot, it was the same guy that had dragged the girls away from the pool the first day we had met them. He was weird looking and gave me a strange vibe, but it wasn't his look that had just thrown me for a loop, it was what he said. Bella? Her name is Iz, not Bella. I looked over to Jasper and he looked like someone had just murdered his old beloved coon hound and then my brain started to slowly wrap around it all.

Iz, Bella Iz is Bella, Bella is Iz, she's freaking Isabella, and the nickname the Swan. _Oh my fucking God_, how could I have been so freaking stupid? She was right in front of me the whole freaking time!

She had played me like a fucking piano, playing dumb and going all along with it. The person I had been looking for the last three and a half freaking years was right in front of me this whole vacation, and a freaking stripper at that. I knew for a fact that I was going to get sick now, none of this seemed like it could really be happening but it was. My head was spinning with a sudden case of vertigo, and then it hit me.

"You knew!" I looked over to Jasper as he looked up at me wide eyed.

"I promised her I'd let her tell you and if she didn't I was going to tell you, I swear. I'm so sorry."

"What?" Emmett asked. He clearly hadn't put it all together.

"Nothing Emmett, enjoy the rest of the night with our back stabbing friend, I'm packing and going back."

I stormed out of the club not looking back. I couldn't believe that I was so ignorant and in denial of the whole situation. No wonder she reminded me so much of Bella, she was Bella. Why wouldn't she have just told me? I'd been living in hell since she left, all I wanted to know was if she was ok.

"Wait," I spun around on my heel in the parking lot when I heard her voice and the clicking of her heels.

"What do you want Iz, Spoons, Bella, Swan, or who ever the fuck you are?"

"Stop, I can explain." She slowly approached me; her arms were crossed in front of her chest covering her stomach. She must have literally ran right after she got off of the stage to get me.

"Explain? What could you have to explain? You saw how fucking hurt I was this whole time and you never said anything Bella! How could you?" I took a step towards her closing the space between us.

"Well isn't that the fucking pot calling the kettle black!" Her face was turning red and her little hands clenched into fists. "I could ask you the same freaking thing! You're the one who cheated not me, you fucked everything up!"

"I know I did, not a day goes by were I forget what the hell I lost." I tugged at my hair, I was definitely going to loose my mind before this conversation was over. "Why didn't you tell me who you were? God, do you know how long I've looked for you?"

Tears were streaming down her face, I reached out to brush them away out of instinct but she pushed my hand away. "Don't Edward, just don't." She wiped at her face and roughly brushed them away. "You have no clue what I have been through; you didn't even try to come after me when I left. You just sat on the bed! Please tell me how I'm supposed to take that?"

Three and a half years later and we were still hurting. I wanted to hold her and tell her it would all be alright and we would figure it out, but the monster in me couldn't just let it go. "Well I've changed since then, and obviously you have too." I pointed at her near nakedness standing outside in the cool windy air.

"What?" her voice barely squeaked out in between sobs. I had hit below the belt and I knew it. I was so hurt and seething I didn't have any control over what flew out of my mouth.

"Look Bella, I'm sorry," I reached up and grabbed her forearms. She quickly shrugged me off.

"Don't," she gritted out between her teeth. "Why? Why did you do it? If you loved me so much then why?"

I had been waiting for this moment for years to finally attempt to explain myself. I knew that I had no excuse and all I could do was beg for forgiveness. But this was so different from the hundreds of different scenarios I had run through my head. Bella, my love, was a stripper who tried to hide from me. Never in a million years had I thought it would have ever panned out like this, but she deserved an explanation regardless of how hurt I was feeling, if nothing more came about from this night she could at least have that for herself.

"I want you to know anything I am about to say isn't an excuse, I don't deserve to be excused." I looked her straight in the eyes and felt myself melt. Her head bobbed up and down showing she understood.

"I was scared, I was scared shitless." She bit her lip I took a deep breath deciding to continue. "I was afraid that I was missing out on something since we had been together for so long and we were so young. I was so fucking stupid. I swear to you I didn't even do anything with her other then make out, you stopped us before anything more could have happened."

We stood there for what seemed to me as an eternity; it felt as if the world had stopped spinning. I held my breath waiting to hear what she would say. I could only hope that she would yell and scream at me and make me feel like shit because I knew I was nothing more than just that. It was what I deserved.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Her question set me back. She didn't want to argue over what I did, she just wanted to know if it was worth it if I was really missing out on the teenage experience of being a 'player'.

"No and yes." She started to sob harder when I said yes. I rubbed at my face I had no clue how to explain it to her.

"I realized I had it all along, you." I reached up and grabbed under her chin and locked eyes with her. "I found that I didn't need to look because I had already found you, and I don't need any one else."

She turned her head out of my hand. "Please Bella; after all of this I know you're the only one I need. I had everything with you and now, now I've got nothing."

"You have no idea." She looked to my face trying to silently convey something. "I've been through so much. You have no idea. So much has changed."

She took a step back and I could see she shuddered. Something was wrong and I had no clue. I went to take a step towards her, my arms were raised reaching out to her. I needed to hold her and tell her that we would figure it all out together and fix whatever it was that wrong. I wasn't about to give up on her, nothing could have changed my mind. Suddenly I was stopped and pushed back by someone that wasn't Bella.

I looked up and saw the freak that was always seemed to be lurking standing in front of me in an offensive stance, the one who had yelled 'Bella baby'. My blood was boiling and I could clearly see in the world in a red haze, my lips instantly turned up at him.

"Please stop, nothing was going on." I saw Bella tugging on this guy's arm trying to get him away.

He turned and looked at her and reached a hand up to her hair and softly stroked it. "Baby you know what it does to me when you say please."

I was pretty sure at that moment I threw up a little. "James, stop!" She quickly tugged her head away from him.

"Look James or who ever you freaking are, we were just talking. Nothing is going on that you need to be-" and then I felt a hard crack to my left eye. I instantly stumbled backwards.

"James what the fuck do you think you're doing?" Bella was yelling at him. I looked over to see James with a giant grin on his face and then I caught another glimmer of Bella's necklace. J….

It was all coming together now. She didn't have anyone named Jackson; she must have just pulled it out of nowhere, especially since it was close to the name of where she lives. She had to be with James that would explain why he was so protective, and always seems to be around even when Bella didn't notice.

It wouldn't be the first time she had lied about something massive to me in the past week. All the sweet sentiments he did towards her. Jesus I was a fucking idiot, she probably was trying to tell me that she didn't want me that she was now with him, 'so much has changed'.

Swallowing what was left of my pride I turned and headed back towards my car. Gripping my keys in one hand and stomach in the other trying to hold what was left of me together. "Wait Edward, please."

I looked over my shoulder and saw James still standing there a little behind Bella nodding his head as if he was confirming everything that I had just figured out. "No Bella, I get it now, I don't belong with you." I climbed into my car slammed the door and peeled out of the parking lot. Looking in my rear view mirror I saw Bella shove James and cover her face sobbing.

I finally knew what I needed to know after three and a half long years. She was safe and found someone new, and I said my peace. I couldn't have asked for anymore I didn't deserve anymore. I headed back to the hotel intent on completing the original plan I had when I had left, pack up and get the hell out of here.

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**Oh Eddie boy, you and your assumptions! **

**So there you have it my lovely readers!!! Love it? Hate it? Let me know...**

**Also a lovely reviewer named RoseArcadia brought it to my attention that this story was mentioned on Twilighted.. I had no clue LOL, thank you to whom ever mentioned it!!! **


	12. Chapter 12

**AHH I was completely blown away with the reviews you guy's are amazing and rock my freaking socks!!!! **

**I have to give a shout out to my lovely beta A Cullen Wannabe she is amazing and fixes my multiple woopsies lol **

**I also have to give hugmongo props to RoseArcadia she made a amazing little blinkie for this story you can check it out at ****rosearcadia dot blogspot dot com!!!**

**Also a little reminder this story is rated M for a reason ;) there may or may not be a little bit of some lemony goodness within :) Enjoy my lovelys!!**

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"Use Somebody"

The squealing tires of the Volvo as it peeled out of its parking spot woke me up from my daze. This was all real, James was a dick, Edward still wanted me, and somehow I was left standing here with the fucking freak.

"You're a fucking idiot James!" I shoved James away from me and he took the hint and headed back into the club laughing to himself. "I don't like you, I never will, I never have, get it through your slow fucking head!" I yelled across the parking lot.

He screwed everything up; sobbing to myself I realized there was no way I would be able to explain to Edward what the hell had just happened. A blind person would have probably assumed that I was with James the way he acted and talked in the parking lot, I could have freaking killed him.

Turning and running back to the club I rushed through the back door. Shoving along the chairs filled with girls applying and reapplying makeup along the room length mirror I finally made it to where my temporary station was. I grabbed the hoodie I had brought with myself and grabbed my bag. I started heading out to the front to leave. I didn't care what anyone had to say I had to get back to the hotel and talk to Edward.

"Whoa, hunny where are you going? What the hell happened?" Alice and Rose popped up in the doorway stopping me from leaving.

"Edward figured it out, James is an ass, Edward left." I managed to breathe out in between sobs.

"Calm down ok? Go, we will cover for you, but you are going to be useless if you're sobbing like you are right now ok?" Rose was trying to calm me down and it defiantly helped, she was right. I had to pull it together, I couldn't go running into a hotel blubbering my eyes out or furthermore climb into a cab the way that I was, the driver would think I was nuts.

I moved past them after giving them a quick hug. Making my way into the main part of the club a few guys tried to grab my arm and pull me towards them but I quickly shook them off and made it out the door. Standing on the curb I quickly threw on my hoodie and went a little ways away from the club to hail a cab.

Not even five minutes later a cab pulled up to where I was standing my hand in the air the other around my stomach trying to hold myself together. I quickly hopped in and told the driver the address for the hotel. As he flew along the roads, I looked out the windows the street lights passing by in a blur. My mind was so jumbled; I had no clue what I was going to do or what I wanted to do. I knew that I wanted no better yet I needed Edward in my life. Maybe I was stupid or way too forgiving, either way I needed him like a fish needs water, but to what extent he could fit into my life was still yet to be seen.

The cab came to a squealing stop in front of the hotel before I knew it. I threw a handful of wadded up cash at the driver darting out of the cab and rushing into the lobby. My heels were making an annoying click clopping sound as I ran across the tile.

"Ma'am" _oh hell no! _The annoying little concierge yelled at me. I turned to look at him with a look that I was pretty sure topped Jane's drop dead look. "Ma'am there is no running in the lobby; it is not safe, you could slip."

"You obviously don't fucking know me."

The prick in the well pressed suit just stood behind the desk with his mouth hanging wide open, _serves you right fucker_.

I looked over towards the elevators they were both on different floors and I need the quickest route up to the third floor. I flicked off my heels and ran towards the stairs hoping that I would be able to make it up them without falling too many times. Busting my way through the doors with a slam I headed for the first set. I tried taking them two at a time but eventually that turned out to be more hazardous than helpful.

"Work legs, come on, and cooperate for freaking once!" _Great,_ I was now yelling at myself and it echoed through the stair well.

Finally I stumbled up the set that led to the third floor doors. I headed towards the door, stopping to catch my breath first. I pushed through the third floor door and ran down the hall to his room. Heels in one hand my purse slung over a shoulder, I reached up with my left hand and pounded on the door. I held onto the door frame to steady myself while trying to catch my breath.

"Dammit Edward, open the door!" I panted out trying to catch my breath.

A few minutes later there still was no response. I finally decided to resort to putting on a heel so that I could kick at the door while pounding on it with my fist. I was sure I was making enough noise to wake the dead but there was still no response within the room.

Emotionally and physically spent, I slumped to the floor across from his door; he had to have been in there. I would just have to sit here until he decided to come out or Emmett and Jasper came back with a room key. Either way I wasn't moving until I could talk to him.

Leaning my head back against the wall behind me I closed my eyes and tried to sort out what I was going to do. I knew I had to tell him about Jackson, that was a given, and we would have to figure out what that meant for us, and relationship wise where we wanted to take things, everything was so confusing and overwhelming. I could feel single little tears stream out of my eyes and down my cheeks.

"Bella?" I jumped a mile I didn't even hear the door creak open.

I opened my eyes and quickly wiped at them clearing my vision so that I could see. Before me stood something that should be illegal in the United States. Edward's hair was glistening with water droplets. A few dripped down and ran down along his chest, a very well chiseled chest at that. Slowly the drops followed the bump and curve of every ab as they slowly trickled downward stopping at the towel that was tucked in low on his hips. I bit my lip; the things that were running through my mind were anything but pure.

Suddenly I remembered how I must have looked, looking down at my own feet I realized I still only had one shoe on and my hair was all over the place. I could bet that my makeup had run all over my face, waterproof didn't translate into sob proof. I was still wearing my stupid work clothes with just a sweatshirt covering the top of me, I must have looked liked some hooker who has seen better days.

"Um," Edward cleared his throat and I realized once again I was lost in my own little world and that he was standing in front of me in nothing more than a towel. "You want to come in?"

He stepped to the side and I finally noticed how nasty his left eye looked. It was starting to swell up and had a purple black tint to it. It was all my fault, stupid freaking James couldn't mind his own business. I slowly walked past him into his room, teeter tottering the whole way, still missing one shoe.

When I heard the door click closed behind him I spun around to look at him. I kicked the one heel I had on off into a corner and stood squaring my shoulders toward him. I had no idea how this conversation was about to go; I could only hope it turned out well.

"I-" we both said the same word at the same time.

"Let me just say this real quick and then you can say what ever you want to I promise." I looked up at Edward pleading with him. I needed to tell him I wasn't with James. Looking at his face again I finally got over the initial shock of the shiner he was now sporting and could tell that he had been crying. His eyes were completely blood shot, and his face seemed to be tear-stained even though he just got out of the shower.

I walked towards him and put my hand out resting my palm on his cheek and he pushed his face into my palm closing his eyes as he did it. I physically couldn't help myself, I needed to touch him, and my body on its own accord took care of that need.

"I'm not with James." His eyes slowly slid open and one single tear ran down his cheek meeting up with my hand and ran down my arm. "I never have and I never will. I haven't been with anyone since you."

He slowly started to shake his head back and forth, I didn't know if it was in denial or disbelief. "Edward, look at me. I swear, I didn't even think I could move on until this trip." I started to chuckle lightly. "Hell, technically I didn't even move on."

"You deserve so much better than me." He slowly took a step backwards rubbing at his face. "Dammit Bella, don't you see it? I'm a monster, a piece of shit. I hurt you so badly and then I guilt you into feeling like you still need to be with me."

"Stop!" he must have been out of his mind if he thought he guilted me into feeling this way. It was anything but.

"Bella I don't want you to-"

"Shut the hell up Edward!" His head snapped up and he looked straight at me. Even though we still had a lot to work out, I wanted him; I needed him in my life. I just had to figure out a way to convey that now.

"I want you, Jesus, I fucking need you!" Granted it wasn't one of my most eloquent statements but I didn't know how else to get it through his thick head.

"What?" He shook his head out spraying a few droplets of water as he did.

"You heard me," he closed the space that we had some how created between each other. He slowly bent down and grabbed me around my waist pulling me closer to him. He leaned his head close to mine; his lips barely grazed my ear as he breathed in and out.

"I need to hear it again." My head was swimming as the low rumble of his voice shook me to my core.

"I love you," I whispered back into his ear placing a soft kiss on it.

It was all out on the table now. Love me, leave me, either way I would find a way to survive again. How, I wasn't exactly sure, but at least if this went badly I'd always know I got out everything that I needed to.

He didn't move for what seemed like an eternity, his breathing slowed. Finally he pulled his head back and put his forehead to mine. "Bella I don't deserve you, but hell if you'll have me..."

His warm freshly cleaned skin was pressed up against me making my body feel as if it was on fire. There were still a few random droplets of water dripping from his head down onto mine. Before I knew it his lips crashed into mine and we fought against each other. His hand tangled in my hair holding my head closer to him, and the other was securely fixed to my hip pulling my right up against him.

My arms and hands instantly flew to his back and curled around his shoulders. I could feel his warm tongue dart out and pensively drag along my bottom lip begging for access which I was all too willing to give. His tongue swirled around my mouth and I could taste beer, tears, and Edward. I missed his smell, his taste, anything and everything about him. After three long years I finally felt at home for once. Edward apprehensively drew his head back, our foreheads still connected as he panted for breath. His lips were slightly swollen, as I'm sure mine were as well.

"Bella," my name fell off of his lips like a moan. He reached a hand up and rubbed at my cheek with his thumb. "You really are here."

I reached down and tugged at his towel pulling him flush against me again. "Has anyone ever told you that you talk way too much?"

I slammed my lips back into his. He let out a slight groan; I could tell and feel that he was enjoying everything. Sliding his arms down along my back, he grabbed at my waist and slightly picked me up. Instantly I wrapped my legs around him, he started to walk forward towards what I assumed was his room. Fumbling with my back to the door I reached for the handle trying to get it to open, never breaking our lips from each other. Finally I caught the bar with a few fingers and flicked it downward causing the door to unlatch. Edward kicked at the door sending it flying open, bouncing off of the wall.

Stumbling towards the bed he reached in between us and unzipped the hoodie I was wearing. We finally broke off the kiss gasping for air. I moved my head to his neck and started to kiss and nip at the bare flesh of his neck and shoulder. I sucked on the sensitive skin under his jaw bone causing him to moan out loud. Gently he set me down on the bed, my legs were still hooked behind him and he knelt on the floor before me. Edward reached up and carefully moved the sweatshirt off of my shoulders, running his fingers along my arms as he did. My skin instantly turned to goosebumps along the trail his fingers took. "Mmm, Edward please." I pressed my hips into him trying to further prove my point.

I sat up on the bed keeping my legs still locked around his toweled waist. Tugging at his hair I pulled his head back to meet me and caught his lips again with mine. His hands trailed along my shoulders down to my back, I involuntarily shuddered. Reaching to the hook on my bra he made quick work of it and unsnapped it in no time. Edward's hands began to trace back up my shoulders and down my arms the same path they had taken when he took off my sweatshirt.

Braking from the kiss, he looked down and his eyes raked over my chest. I bit my bottom lip hoping that he wouldn't suddenly stop as the old Bella insecurities reared their ugly head. Eventually he looked up at me a crooked grin splayed across his face; his eyes were dark with lust and want. He put his hands on either side of me and crawled up over me causing me to lay down.

Looking up at him I locked eyes with him "You're so much more beautiful than any of my dreams could ever begin to fathom."

I couldn't help but smile at what he had just said. Every worry I had was instantly squashed those sweet words. I ran my hands down his back; he instantly groaned and pushed his head into my shoulder. My hands made it to the top edge of his towel and I ran them along it until I found where it was tucked in, his body shivered and quaked the whole time. Curling a finger under where the end of the towel was tucked in I gently pulled it apart and it fell to the floor.

Edward removed his head from my shoulder and looked at me as his hand skimmed down my rib cage where it hooked into the top of my work skirt that I was still wearing. Gently he started to slide it down over my hip. Needing two hands to get it off, he stood up and grasped it with both hands and dragged it over my legs. My body was literally vibrating with anticipation. I couldn't believe that this was about to happen, not that I didn't want it to, hell I would kill for it to happen, I just thought I'd never get another chance.

Standing before me with my skirt in one hand, he smiled at me again and flung it over his shoulder. Slowly making his way back on to the bed, he shifted me toward the headboard as he muttered over and over 'so fucking beautiful'. I could feel my body blush. I would have never had guessed that fucking and beautiful in the same sentence would ever have that kind of effect on me. I ran my hand over my name permanently tattooed over his heart reminding me the gravity of the situation we were now in. My fingertips kept moving downward grazing down his abs, each one jumped and shook under my touch.

Finally reaching my goal, I wrapped my hand around him and gave him a few quick strokes, my hand skimming over the head.

"Ugh, Bella if you want this to last you better stop that or I'm going to be useless." I couldn't stop the giggle that bubbled out of me. "It's not funny Bella; I want this to be perfect."

"It already is." I grabbed either side of his face so that we were looking at each other. He groaned at my actions and statement, moving his head down he kissed me again. Dropping my hands from his face I grabbed onto his back and wrapped my legs around his hips again brushing my wet core against him, causing both of us to moan into each others mouth. My body felt red hot with fire, begging for a release.

He held himself over me with one arm while his other hand worked its way down my body, running a finger along my folds as I moaned out his name. Painstakingly slowly he slid one finger into me and started to pump it, eventually he added another causing me to arch my hips up closer to him. Suddenly his thumb reached out and started swirling and adding pressure to my clit. I almost came undone right then, my ears felt like they were about to pop off, my stomach and heart clenched. He pulled his fingers away and I instantly felt empty. Setting his hand back to the other side of my head, he aligned himself right at my entrance as he looked right into my eyes.

Biting my lip I nodded my head up and down. Slowly he pushed himself into me, I moaned once he was full sheathed within me. Edward waited a few moments before starting to move, I wiggled my hips at him proving that I had finally stretched. Just as slowly as he entered me he started to rock his hips moving in and out. My shoulders pushed back against the bed, causing my chest to push up against his, both of us breaking out in a sweat. He put an arm around my back holding me to himself while he picked up the pace. I wasn't sure how much longer I could take this pace before exploding in ecstasy.

"Oh god, Edward!" God and Edward in the same sentence seemed fitting considering what he was making my body feel. "I'm gonna, ugh, god, I'm about-"

"I know, fuck I know!" His lips were right against my ear; his teeth grazed my ear as he spoke.

I moaned out loudly enough that everyone in the hotel most likely knew what we were doing but I could have cared less. He reacted by yelling out my name; the sheer force of it vibrating through my body in delicious ways. The tightening sensation in my stomach and throughout me became too much. My body quaked and my eyes rolled into the back of my head. I fell over the edge, the intense release left me shaking in his arms as he pumped faster trying to reach his own climax. My walls clenching around him caused enough friction for him to twitch and spill his seed within me.

We both stopped moving, panting for breath and covered in sweat. He lifted his head and placed his forehead to mine. "You don't know how long I've waited to do that." He had the biggest grin plastered on his face.

"I think I have a pretty good idea," I said reaching up and pushing some of the locks of hair that had fallen into his eyes out of the way.

Pulling himself out of me he rolled over onto his side taking me with him. I curled up into his side nuzzling my head into the crook of his neck. Edward leaned his head forward and placed a soft kiss to the top of my head. "Go to sleep my love."

I hummed my appreciation into his neck. I didn't need any more persuasion than that to go to sleep, my eyelids slowly slid closed. For the first time in a long time I finally felt at home.

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The streams of sunlight danced across the room and warmed my body. I opened my eyes and stretched out like a cat, I was only marginally sore from last night. I couldn't help but smile when I thought back to what happened last night. Granted Edward got punched by James but that seemed as if it was only a drop in the bucket compared to everything else that occurred.

I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off of my shoulders, finally. I knew I still had to tell him about Jackson but after how last night went I was feeling invincible, nothing could ruin what we had now. After seeing Edward play football with that kid at the beach I had all the confirmation that I needed that he would be more then accepting of our son.

Feeling around the bed, I didn't feel anything or anyone. I quickly sat up in the bed taking the sheet with me and looked around, there was no one around. My heart started to shatter, I couldn't have been imagining all that happened last night. I clearly wasn't in my room and I defiantly had sex but I had no clue where Edward was. My mouth suddenly got dry and I thought I was about to be sick, he must have left while I was asleep, _so much for being invincible_, I laughed darkly. Wouldn't that be the shit of it all if he left after everything?

Tugging the sheet off the bed, I wrapped it around myself and tip toed out of the bedroom. I wasn't sure who or what I would find. Walking through the TV area, I didn't see any signs of life. I headed towards the door out to the hallway intent on doing what, I had no freaking clue. Once I got close to the doorway, I saw another closed door further down the hall with a light peeking out from underneath it and could hear water running from inside the room.

I swallowed around the huge lump that had formed in my throat and opened the door. Slowly it creaked open and I could see in the reflection of the mirror that it was Edward in the shower; I audibly let out a sigh of relief. He didn't notice me standing in the doorway so I decided to be sneaky and join him.

Slowly I padded along the slick tile trying to be stealthy, if he had noticed me he didn't make it apparent. I made it halfway into the bathroom when in true Bella fashion my foot stepped on the front of the sheet wrapped around me causing my other foot to slip on the wet tile sending me sprawling across the bathroom floor. My bare skin made a slapping noise as it hit the floor, _stealth__, yeah,__ try bull in a china shop_, the shower door flew open and Edward was instantly by my side pulling me into his lap.

His body was dripping making a huge puddle on the floor, "Bella, oh my god are you ok?"

I was laughing too hard to form a coherent sentence, it was just my luck that I try to be a little sex kitten and instead slip on the floor and go flying. Gasping for breath I nodded my head up and down. The worry in his eyes decreased tenfold, "Jesus, what were you trying to do?"

"Join you." I said in between giggles. He wiped at my eyes brushing away the tears that had formed from laughing so hard. With my hysterical laughing subsiding, I was left feeling embarrassed and aroused all at the same time. Biting at my bottom lip I looked up at him from under my eyelashes. He groaned and I felt his member tighten and grow hitting me in the back.

"You will be the death of me." He stated closing his eyes and pinching at the bridge of his nose wincing slightly, his black eye was more of a purple red eye today. I couldn't help but feel guilty when I looked at it.

I sat up and put a hand behind his neck. Pulling him closer to me, his breathing turned into short little pants. "So..." I softly kissed his lips and motioned my head towards the still running shower.

"As much as I would love to, I believe if we get started in there then we will never leave this room." My face instantly turned into a pout. "Now, now love, don't do that, I know your friends would love to see you and make sure you are ok and it's only fair since I'm sharing this room with Jasper and Emmett. We can't keep them locked out forever."

"Fine." I had totally forgotten about everyone else. I could bet that Alice and Rose were crawling out of there skin waiting to hear that I was alright and how last night went.

"Hop in the shower," he sighed. Right after he had made that statement he quickly put up his hands in a pleading fashion, "wait, no, don't hop, carefully climb in the shower and I'll get us something to eat."

"Smart ass."

He smirked and stood up walking over to where the towels were and grabbed one. I watched as every muscle flexed and tightened as he walked.

"Strangely I get the feeling you still like it regardless." He said while wrapping a towel around his waist, reminding me yet again of last night. He ran his hands through his hair spraying water as he did.

"Touche." I couldn't lie, I had just watched his hot little butt walk across the room to get a towel, there was no denying it, I'm surprised his ass didn't have little burn marks on it from me staring at it.

He started to laugh and shake his head as he offered me a hand to help me up off the floor. I took it and he pulled me up. Placing a chaste kiss on my lips, he left the room. I climbed in the shower as requested by Edward. I stood there and let the spray hit my chest.

I planned on telling him about Jax when I got out of the shower. I didn't want to do it in front of everyone, and I couldn't wait any longer. I was being selfish by not telling either of them about each other. It wasn't fair to him or to Jackson. Maybe if I could talk him into it he would cut his vacation short and go up to Jacksonville with me and meet his son. My mind was running wild with all the different ways things could work out and how we would eventually end up. The one scenario that scared me the most was the thought that he would be so hurt that I had left pregnant that he would never accept our son and leave both of us.

The water suddenly turned cold and I was left with no other option than to get out and face the music. Carefully I got out of the shower and grabbed a towel. I only slid once as I stepped out onto the wet tile, but luckily didn't fall. I opened the door and walked out into the living area. My stomach was aflutter with butterflies, I was so nervous I thought I could have gotten sick. Rounding the corner I saw Edward sitting there in black basketball shorts and a white t-shirt. His hair sticking up in the perfect state of disarray that it always was in, he had a slight stubble growing along his chin and jawline. Looking up at me he had his beloved crooked grin on his face. I smiled back, "Do you have a shirt I can borrow I um," I motioned to the towel. I really didn't want to go next door in a towel or have to put on the smelly club clothes I had on last night.

"Oh, yeah sure, come on." He held out his hand for me to grab.

Walking across the room I linked hands with him and we walked into his room hand in hand. Once we were inside the door way he slid his hand out of mine and headed over to where his luggage was. Unzipping the suitcase he pulled out a green t-shirt and started to walk back towards me, I noticed everything he had was neatly packed back in his luggage. My heart began to pound wildly, it looked like he was ready to leave. I wasn't ready for him to go, not by a long shot. Tears started to form in my eyes, "Are you leaving?"

I pointed to his luggage; I couldn't say anything else, I had barely choked out what I had said. Edward looked between me and his luggage confused for a second and then it dawned on him what it must have looked like and he came rushing right over to me and pulled me into a hug. "Last night yes, now no."

He grabbed either side of my face making me look him in the eyes, "You are never going to get rid of me now, got it?" I nodded my head not knowing what to say. I could only hope that he would feel the same way after I told him about Jax. "Here put this on ok? I'll be right out there waiting."

Gently he closed the door behind himself as he walked out. When the door clicked shut I sighed, I had no clue how to tell him about our son, but I knew I had to. Quickly I slipped the shirt he gave me over my head, it was extremely baggy but I loved it, it smelt exactly like him. I pulled on the hoodie I was wearing last night; it made it look like I was wearing less of a green bag. I had to search for a little bit for my skirt, I found it haphazardly flung by the window. Giggling out loud I pulled it on, the look Edward had on his face last night when he threw it was priceless.

I shook my head and opened the door, finding Edward sprawled out in the chair that was positioned across from the TV; I walked over to him and stood in front of him. He held out his arms and pulled me towards him as I settled in right next to him and sighed with contentment. _Now or never, go for it._

"Look Edward there is something I have to tell you.." I sat up and looked him in the eyes; he needed to know I was completely serious.

"Ok?" he sounded nervous. I could only imagine what was running through his head.

"That night that I left back in Forks," I took a deep breath. My whole body was shaking. He nodded his head at me showing me that it was alright to continue. "I was, I was trying to find you to tell you."

My breath was coming out in shallow pants now, I knew I was on the edge of having an anxiety attack. I could hear my heart annoyingly humming in my ears. "Love, go ahead, you can tell me anything, you know that."

I bobbed my head; I hoped he was telling the truth. The humming started to increase in volume, making my head ring. "Wait, do you hear that?"

"Huh?" Either this boy had really good hearing picking up rhythm of my heart that was about to explode out of my chest or the noise wasn't me. His head perked up and he looked around the room like a prairie dog.

"That!" Ok so I wasn't going to die of a heart attack, it was something else. I started to look around the room with him. "It sounds like a phone or something.."

I instantly shot up out of his lap and slid across the room to where my purse had been flung sometime last night. Digging through it I found my phone lighting up, the caller id reading a number I had never seen before. I felt Edward come and crouch beside me on the floor as I hit the green button.

Putting the phone up to my ear I could hear ragged breathing, _what the hell was going on?_ "Hello?"

There was no response at first, the rate of the breathing on the other end increased, I looked over at Edward he just shrugged his shoulders as he started to get up from the floor, and mouthed to me 'just hang up' heading back over to the chair.

Right as I was about to take his advice I heard a sharp slapping noise. I almost dropped the phone when I realized the noise was the sound of someone being hit on the other end. The crack was followed by a very familiar whimper.

"Mommy help, I'm scared."

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**Don't hate on the cliffie you know you all love me for it lol **

**Review and lemme know what you all think!! **


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer- Nope still don't own it..**

**Author's Note- I was in awe of all the reviews thank you guys soooo much! Anyone who reviews for this chapter I'm going to send them a little teaser of the next chapter!!**

**A big ole thanks to my beta extraordinaire A Cullen Wannabe, if you have not checked out her stories I beg you to do it now.. well wait after you read this .. then you're free to go forth and read hers lol **

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"Selfless"

I had to fight against the tears that instantly seemed to form and the sobs that were begging to erupt out of me. I couldn't believe this was really happening; there was no way it was possible. I had to be caught in some sort of black hole.

"Jackson?" I managed to squeak out. I knew his voice anywhere but I had to have confirmation, none of this seemed real. At the mention of Jax's name Edward's ears perked up and he looked straight at me. I could only shake my head; I had no clue what was going on.

It seemed like a lifetime passed with no response on the other end. I thought I could hear a muffled cry, but I had no idea if it was my own or Jackson's.

"Baby, are you there? What is going on?"

Edward was sitting on the floor beside me now rubbing my back with a concerned look on his face. I could hear over the speaker what sounded like the phone being shuffled around and then I heard a throat clear.

"Look Bella baby, if you want your boy back then you better realize we were meant to be together."

I dropped my phone and it bounced on the carpeted floor with a dull thud. When it landed Edward quickly picked it up and put it to his ear. I stood up and ran to the bathroom retching violently. It was nothing but stomach acid, but the sound of James' voice made me physically ill. Resting my head on the cool porcelain I tried to sort out what had just happened.

Somehow James had gotten back to Jacksonville and had taken my son. I had no clue where. I looked towards the door, pulling me self up. I could barely stand on my quivering legs. Slowly I made my way to the door and tried to go for the handle. My whole body was trembling; I didn't even feel as if I had control of it.

Just as I had finally got my hand on the handle, the door flew open before me and there stood Edward looking at my phone like it was an alien.

"He said he is going to text you an address." He looked at me and came rushing towards me and pulled me into a bone crushing hug. "What the fuck is going on? He hung right up after he said the thing about the text. Was that the guy that punched me?"

All I could do was nod my head. I felt like I was going to be sick again. I was in such a state of shock physically that I couldn't even cry, my mind couldn't fully wrap around what had just happened.

"I have to go…I have to go." I kept muttering over and over pushing against Edward's chest so that I could go to wherever the text told me to.

"Shh, love what is going on?" he pulled me tighter to him.

I looked up at him, my eyes as wide as a doe's. "Please let me go, it's Jackson," I got choked up and couldn't finish. Slowly the reality of the situation started to sink in.

He let me out of the hug but held on to my arms and bent down so that his face was level with mine, "I just got you back, I'm not letting you go without me." Nodding my head I agreed, he could help he had a car and that meant we could get to where ever it was that much faster and ultimately this was his son too that had been taken.

"Let's run over to your room quickly and tell them we are going. Maybe that text will come by then ok?"

I nodded my head again; speaking seemed to be impossible for me at the moment. I crossed my arms in front of myself and held onto my sides trying to keep myself together as much as possible. Edward put his arm around me and ushered me out of the room.

Pounding on the door to the room I shared with Rose and Alice, my phone lit up and vibrated signaling I had a text. Edward grabbed it from me and looked at the screen. "It says to head towards Middleburg and once we get on I-95 to text the number back."

I had a rough idea where that was. I knew it was about an hour away from where we lived, but it would be at least four to five hours away from where we were now. The thought of having to wait that long made me break that much more. I needed to be there now, there was no way anyone in the world could get me there fast enough.

The door opened and there stood Alice and Rose. They both had huge grins on their faces that made me have to swallow down bile again. They had no clue what the hell was going on. Edward led me into the room his arm still around me. Once we made it into the main part of the room I headed straight to where my clothes were. All I wanted to do was throw on a pair of pants and get out of there.

Walking past Emmett he started to laugh and pump his fist in the air, "Walk of shame! Walk of shame!"

"Shut the fuck up Emmett, I swear to god!" Edward quickly put an end to his little chant. He dropped his arm from my shoulders and stood in front of Emmett who was lounged in a chair crossing his arms.

The girls must have noticed that something was severely wrong and followed me into the bedroom. I didn't even try to close the door as I headed straight towards my luggage grabbing a pair of sweat pants and pulling them on. The door clicking closed made me jump and I looked towards it. Rose had closed the door and Alice was instantly in front of me.

"What is going on?" she looked at my face pleading for some sort of answer.

"If Edward did anything you know neither of those guys will let-" Rose was going off on a tirade walking across the room towards me.

"Please stop!" I was panting for breath and had my hands crushed against my ears. I didn't know if I was asking them to stop or asking for this whole situation to stop, either one would have worked for me.

"Bella?" They both grabbed me and tried to get me to answer them. "What is going on?"

I started to shake my head, the disbelief settling in again. "James took... Jackson... only know where... from text." I managed to breathe out between pants.

They both screamed 'what' at me and Edward must have sensed that something was wrong or he could have heard them yell because he was instantly in the doorway rushing towards where I was. Putting his arm around me he pulled me close to him, "We have to go. I've already talked with the guys; they will let you know what we are going to do."

Rosalie and Alice shook their heads and followed us out of the room. Emmett and Jasper were standing by the TV looking like they were ready to beat the living pulp out of something. As we walked past them Emmett kept saying how sorry he was, but none of it seemed to be recognized by my mind.

We made it to the elevator and rushed towards the parking lot. My feet started to fail me the closer we got to Edwards car. Everything was becoming very real, very fast. After stumbling a few times Edward scooped me up and carried me the rest of the way. He made quick work of the passenger door and gently slid me onto the seat. My legs instinctively came up to my chin and I grabbed a hold of them trying to keep myself together. Edward ran over and quickly hopped into the driver's seat and peeled out of the parking lot while plugging Middleburg, Florida into his GPS. I kept rocking back and forth while the car flew down the roads making its way to the turnpike.

"It's going to be ok I promise," Edward reached across the center console and massaged my neck. "I won't let anything bad happen."

I started to sob again, he had no clue what was going on or who he was trying to help, but as long as it affected me he was willing to do whatever. I stared at my cellphone through blurry eyes counting down the miles on the GPS until we made it to I-95.

Watching the numbers with baited breath mentally willing them to go faster, I started to remember back when Jackson was a baby, back when I was round with pregnancy, anything and everything that had reminded me of him. My mind blocked out the world passing by in a blur and if Edward was saying anything to me it was falling on deaf ears.

I swear I could feel that weight of his newborn body in my arms after I was in labor for only six hours. The nurses were all mad at me because it all went so fast but at the time, for me it couldn't have gone fast enough.

My mind fast forwarded to when I brought him to my mom's home bundled up in his blue and green car seat and little blue outfit. I was so excited to get him there and get him into his dinosaur themed nursery even though I spent days on end carrying him around the house. All the sleepless nights because whenever I set him down his eyes would instantly spring open and I would have to pick him up and start the walking and rocking ritual all over again.

The first time I had gotten peed on, which certainly wasn't the last and eventually I learned the lesson of have another diaper right underneath, and to take the diaper off the last second before bath time. The spit up, the burping, everything nasty that I would have given anything in the world to be able to experience right now because then I would know that he was safe and in my arms.

His first steps that he took when he finally let go of the coffee table and walked towards Phil who was tossing a baseball in the air. We were all sitting there, watching holding our breath, waiting to see if he would accidentally fall. He didn't and I had let out a sigh at the time, it seemed that he wasn't cursed with my lack of grace after all.

The look on his face when he curled up to sleep with his favorite stuffed animal, the little teddy bear that he still slept with now that he named Martin for some unknown reason. Phil bought it for him after we took him to his first baseball game even though he didn't know what was going on.

I thought back to when I had met Alice and Rose, eventually moving in with them and how they instantly took to Jackson. They had always been like aunts to him even though they had no blood relation. His first words besides the basic Mama and Dada was Ro and Ahh. He would yell it out whenever Alice or Rose came in the room.

I remembered the night when I got a panicked phone call from Angela saying that Jackson was doing something weird and she couldn't get him to stop. Alice covered for me and upon rushing home I saw that he was in the living room doing somersaults over and over laughing hysterically. She was afraid that he was going to hurt his head and that he would never stop.

God, I could even see him with his fingers all goopy with hair gel begging for 'normal' hair like it was yesterday. He was barely three years old; there was no possible way that this should be happening. It wasn't fair to him, life had finally seemed to be on the right track and then it suddenly came crashing to a horrific fucked up halt.

I felt a heavy hand grab my shoulder and I jumped, covering my mouth with my hand to prevent from screaming out loud. Feeling my eyes slowly open, I looked around seeing that I was still in the car.

"Love, we are about five minutes away." I audibly groaned, there was no possible way I was going to last the remainder of this car ride without loosing my mind. Time seemed to be standing still. "We are five minutes away from where he is; I guess I should have clarified."

I did a double take and really took inventory of my surroundings seeing that it was pitch black outside and the clock on the dashboard was reading a little after eight pm. "What? When?" I whispered out while rubbing at my eyes, I couldn't believe that I was out of it for so long.

"You were out and you finally seemed kind of at peace so when we got on 95 I sent the text," I nodded my head; I hadn't heard or realized anything until he touched me. "The guys got us all checked out and left not to long after us. They have the address too, I forwarded it to Jasper when I got it."

"Rose and Alice?"

"They are on their way with them too, baby. Don't worry we will fix this."

"I-" I was promptly cut off by the GPS saying that the destination was ahead on the right in two miles. Quickly I looked around and saw a side street coming up on the left, which would be the perfect spot for Edward to park and wait. I didn't want to have him come in and risk anything happening to Jackson.

"Pull over on that road and park." I pointed over towards the road on the left and Edward made a quick turn, pulling over to the side of the road and parking not to far from the intersection. I reached over with trembling hands and grabbed Edward's that were clenching the steering wheel.

He removed one of his hands and pointed out the window to a house on the right side of the road that was all lit up, "It's that one up there."

I had a basic plan, get in there and get my son out regardless of what I had to be willing to do to get James to agree. I just needed to let Edward know the part that he played in it. Releasing a quivering breath he looked over at me, "I need you to stay here, regardless of what happens promise me you won't go rushing in there."

"But Bella-" his eyes were wide with fear when he finally started to realize what I was asking him. I had to cut him off before he could change my mind, I needed to stick to whatever little shred of a plan I had.

"Please let me finish. I need to," I put my hand on his cheek while he solemnly shook his head silently agreeing. "I'm going to go in there and send Jackson out... I hope... I need you to get him and get him out of here, don't worry about me, please you have to do this for me."

"Bella I can't, I can't leave you; I just got you back!" He growled out the last part while shaking his head vehemently denying my request.

I already had my hand on the handle tugging at it to open the door, stepping out of the car I said, "He is going to need you, you'll see, please."

"You have ten minutes before I go in there; I don't give a shit what you say, that's the most I'm giving in on this situation." Edward stated while sliding out of the car and stopping in front of it.

"Fine," I approached where he was standing and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. I started to head towards the intersection. Looking over my shoulder I saw him running his hands through his hair tugging at it, thoroughly pissed off.

"I love you, I always have and always will," I confessed before turning back around and heading towards the haunting house in the distance.

"I love you Isabella." I heard echo from behind me and I let out a small cry. Putting one unsure foot in front of the other I trudged forward to get my son at what ever cost it meant to me.

* * *

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	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer- still don't own it.. unfortunately**

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* * *

"Dead Man Walking"

Pacing back and forth, I mentally counted the seconds that it would take to pass within ten minutes. Ten minutes...ten whole fucking minutes. How could I have been so stupid to just let her go like that? I should have had more of a backbone and told her I was going regardless.

The whole car ride she had been mute, occasionally she would mumble different random things about Jackson, or so I was assuming. Nothing she said when put together made sense. One hour she was muttering about green and blue dinosaurs, another few hours passed and she spent it in complete silence. After that, she started shaking her head, eyes still closed, talking about somersaults and baseball.

I was left feeling more confused then I had at the start of all of this. All I could really deduce was that Jackson meant a lot to her, and for one reason or another, he was incapable of taking care of James by himself necessitating Bella's involvement.

_Three hundred Mississippi, three hundred and one Mississippi,_ five minutes had managed to pass and still no sign of anyone from the house. I started to get even antsier than I was previously, starting to pace faster than before, not that it helped anything. What would have helped was telling Bella hell no and marched right up to the door with her.

In the middle of my mental bashing, I heard a noise off in the distance that made my heart stop. Looking off to the left, I could see in the distance a door open illuminating the yard before it. A figure made its way outside and was walking into the yard.

I started to jog the tree line towards the house, along the opposite side of the road. It wasn't very well lit, but I made it there faster than I had expected. Standing in front of the house on the other side of the road, I saw someone who looked to be a little less then three feet tall sobbing, head down, slowly making there way to the road.

_Ok so Jackson was a kid_. I had no clue how to get him to come to me.

The only light was coming from the windows in the house that he had just come out of. From the dim light, I could only really make out how tall he was and that he seemed to be crying hard. I made my way across the road towards the yard he was walking across so that I could grab him and run him back to my car. The sooner I got him to my car, the faster I could get back and get Bella.

Approaching the small form, I still couldn't make out what his face looked like in the dim light. I held my hands out and crouched down; I was doing everything completely on instinct.

"Jackson?" I saw his head instantly shoot up and he started to quicken his pace towards my voice. "Jackson, come here, your mommy sent me."

He was now running towards me and was in my arms before I knew it. I was thrown back by how perfectly he fit in my arms, and how familiar he felt, even though I had never met him before.

"My mommy, my mommy..." the innocent little voice crooned while rubbing his head back and forth on my shoulder.

"Shh, Jackson it's going to be ok. I will get her back I promise, ok?" I rubbed at his back and he nestled his little face into the crook of my neck, his hair tickling me.

Scooping him up, I held him tightly to me. I ran back towards my car and threw the back passenger door open. Climbing into the seat, he still had his little hands securely hooked around my neck. I slammed the door shut and looked around; making sure that there wasn't anyone else around. The interior light was still on. Jackson lifted his head from me and looked at me, finally giving me my first view of his face now in the more substantial light.

I felt my mouth fall open as I stared back at green eyes that mirrored my own. Pulling my head farther back, I looked at him closely. He looked identically like me, the only difference was that his hair was the same chocolate tint as Bella's; he even had a black eye that matched my own. My stomach turned at the idea of how a small innocent child got such a shiner.

"_He is going to need you, you'll see, please." _

The words that had finally broke my resolve, helping her get her wish of me staying by the car, kept playing over and over again in my head. Of course he was going to need me; there was no denying the paternity once you looked at him, "_you'll see." _

I have a son, a boy, who I don't even know. I had to quickly squash the anger that was bubbling up in me when I thought of how much I missed with him. If only I hadn't been a complete douche and had gotten off of that bed and chased Bella, I would know my son. I'd know his favorite color, his favorite meal, every little thing that was simply him, I had no clue. I lost out on so much with him because I was an idiot.

Headlights shinning through the windshield broke my gaze that was locked on Jackson, my son. I quickly moved him so that he was sitting in his own seat and started to pull his seat belt across him. I was intent on getting him out of there and then getting Bella, my papa bear instincts instantly kicked in.

There was a quick knock on the passenger window and I instantly shielded his body with my own. I looked over my shoulder, ready to kill James or who ever it was. Once my eyes finally adjusted back to seeing in the darkness, I saw that it was Emmett.

I let out a huge breath that I was holding and moved to open the door, lifting myself off of Jackson and reaching across for the handle. I felt a little hand grab my arm. Instantly, I locked eyes with him. He looked scared senseless, as he began to sob again.

"Shh, it's ok," I rested my hand on his head and tried to reassure him that I'd make sure that he never had another worry. "He's a good guy, I promise, he's friends with your mommy."

He began to nod his head. He seemed to be starting to trust me, but there was also a fresh batch of un-shed tears at the mention of his mommy, Bella. I felt like shit mentioning her, but I didn't know how else to show him that he could believe in me.

Reaching across the car, I opened the door and began to slide out to talk to them. As I climbed out of the car, I turned and looked back, watching Jackson curl up like Bella had done earlier. My heart broke all over again.

"Dude, what the fuck is going on?" Emmett kept looking at me and then back at Jackson.

"Where is he?" Alice came rushing over out of nowhere.

"Is Bella here?" Rose was running right behind Alice, heading straight towards me.

Alice shoved me out of the way and crouched down in front of the still open passenger door.

"Aunt Al, Aunt Rose he got mommy."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, hearing his voice made me want to either go on a murderous rampage, or curl up next to him and cry my eyes out.

"Aw, I know baby but don't worry." Alice said, her voice cracking at the end trying to keep her own emotions in check. She climbed into the car with him and held onto him.

Rose gently closed the door so that there was a little bit of a sound barrier, "You know he is yours ri-"

"Yes, of course." I quickly cut her off. I would never be able to go back to a life without Jackson after I saw him. There was no way.

"Did he do that to him?" she ground out between her teeth.

I knew what she was asking. She wanted to know about the black eye that the poor boy was now sporting. All I could do was nod my head, the thought of it still made me want to murder someone and get sick simultaneously.

"Jesus, Fuck," Emmett started to pace back and forth.

"I know Em, try having it be your son that got hit and the love of your life still trapped in that fucking house with him." I pointed towards the house in the distance that was still lit.

Emmett clasped a comforting hand on my shoulder while Rose slid into the car with Alice and Jackson.

"We will fix this."

I nodded my head agreeing, there was no way James would get away with what he did, but first and foremost, I needed to get Bella safely back in my arms.

Jasper materialized out of the darkness, "There is only one way in. We better move now."

He was always the tactical one when it came to playing hide and seek when we were younger, or when we got older, when we used to break into parks at night so that we could drink.

I opened the door to the car and was met with three sets of sad eyes.

"Stay here and lock the doors. We will be right back. If anything happens, honk and we will be over here as fast as possible."

"Ok." Both Alice and Rose said simultaneously.

Jackson looked down at the floor of the car. I could tell he was on the brink of breaking down again.

"Remember my promise, little man."

Little man seemed to be a fitting nickname for him. From what I could tell, he acted wise beyond his years, and physically, he was a smaller version of me.

Alice mouthed 'thank you' to me. I saw Jackson bob his head up and down, a small smile played at his lips.

I nodded my head, closing the car door. I started walking towards the guys who were standing on the corner, pointing towards where James was hiding out with Bella.

"Hey," I let my presence be known once I made it to where they were.

"Hey," they both said back in unison. Standing there next to them, gazing at the house, I started to rub at the tattoo of Bella's name. The material above it was soaked in Jackson's tears.

"I have to get her back, we need her back." I quickly threw a glance over my shoulder at the car.

"I know," Jasper stated while starting to walk down the road towards the house.

I started to follow, but was quickly stopped by Emmett's over sized hand grabbing my shoulder.

"Congrats, I think, I don't know if it's the right time to say that but-"

I nodded my head, cutting him off from continuing. I wasn't sure if he was congratulating me over being back with Bella or the fact that I had a son, the main thing on my mind was getting Bella back. He slid his hand off my shoulder, understanding that there was a bigger issue that we needed to get settled.

We both jogged over to where Jasper was walking down the road.

"The door is right in the front. I don't know if he has any weapons, but that is our only way in."

Once we approached the front yard, we avoided the parts that were lit up from the light emanating from the lit windows of the house. Creeping alongside it, the world was eerily silent. The mission impossible song started to play in my head as we tip toed along the wall, working our way to the front door. Everything seemed like something that should have been in a blockbuster film, not actually occurring in real life. We were following each other, single file, towards the destination, Jasper in the front, me in the middle, and Emmett was bringing up the rear.

The singing in my head eventually started to crescendo the closer we got to the door. Jasper turned and looked at me with a 'what the hell?' expression on his face. I just shrugged, I had no clue why he was looking that way at me. And then, as I listened closer to the singing, I realized it wasn't in my head at all. It was coming from behind me. I turned and glared at Emmett with a look that I'm sure could have been murderous.

"Emmett, Jesus!" I growled out at the singing idiot, somehow managing to control the volume of my voice to an extent.

"What?" He whispered, trying to feign innocence.

I felt my eyes bulge out of my head at him.

"Fine, fine, I'll shut up. Sorry, it was just too tense for me."

Jasper scoffed out loud and started slinking along the side of the house again, making sure to avoid the windows. Eagerly, I followed along, my heart hammering harder the closer we got to the door. Finally, we stopped, crouching right next to the stairs that led up to the front door. Luckily for us, there was no window in the door.

We all quietly stalked up the steps and I put my hand on the door knob. Letting out a shaky breath, I looked to Jasper and Emmett to make sure they were ready. Once I saw both of their heads nod in confirmation, I turned the knob. Thankfully, the door wasn't locked. Pushing it open, it let out a slight groan and a small squeak. We all jumped at the noise.

Stepping into the place, I looked left and right quickly, seeing that I was in the middle of a living room that opened up into a small kitchen on the right hand side. At the far end of the living room, I could see I single hall that must have led down to a few other rooms.

Quickly, I walked in. Emmett and Jasper followed right on my heels. Emmett went into the kitchen and started to look around in there, as I started to tear apart the living room looking for anything that could help us. Jasper went down the hallway and I could here him kicking a door open. I followed right after him.

Much to my dismay, there was no sign of anyone in the house other than the lights being on. Jasper headed back down the hallway shaking his head. Emmett was standing in the living room, looking as confused as I felt. We didn't see one single car leave, nor did we hear one. They had to be here, there was no other place they could have gone.

Looking around the living room, I saw a teddy bear dressed in a sports uniform thrown in a corner. I walked over to it. Crouching down to pick it up, I noticed that it looked well worn. I could have only assumed that it was Jackson's, something that he had before all of this shit happened. Picking it up, I clutched it close to my chest, inhaling. I couldn't help but notice it smelled like Bella.

"Arghhh!" I let out a guttural growl, I felt absolutely primal.

James broke the last shred of patience I had. He punched me, led me to believe he was with Bella, kidnapped her son...no kidnapped _our_ son, hit him, and now, to top it all off, he was missing with Bella. I internally made a promise that when I set eyes on that man again, he wouldn't remain alive for long. He was a dead man walking.

"I don't know Edward, I swear we would have heard a car. It doesn't make sense." I looked over towards Jasper with an incredulous look. I didn't want to hear excuses, I wanted a resolution.

"Oh, oh I know!" Emmett was practically jumping up and down with the idea that had popped into his head.

Jasper looked at him expectantly, and I motioned forward trying to urge him to continue.

He turned and started to head down the hallway. Once he got to the start of it, he held his hands out mimicking a gun with his pointer fingers. Looking over to Jasper, I saw that we both seemed dumbfounded.

"Police! Come out with your hand's up!" Emmett yelled down the hallway, his voice echoed and resonated through out the shack. Looking over his shoulder he shrugged, "Hm, worth a shot."

"Really!?" I gritted out through my teeth. I wasn't angry at Jasper or Emmett, but they were there, a complete case of wrong place wrong time. "Are you fucking serious Emmett?"

I tightened my hold on the poor innocent stuffed animal in my clutches. I started towards Emmett intent on doing what, I wasn't sure, but I had the feeling that if I got the chance to smack something, anything around, I could potentially feel at least slightly better.

When Jasper noticed me moving, he put his hand on my chest, stopping my advance, and turned to face Emmett. He pulled the hand that he had used to stop me off of my chest, and clenched it into a fist, cracking Emmett in the jaw.

"You are lucky I punched you and not him," Jasper said while shaking out his hand that had just contacted with Emmett's chin. "He would have fucking killed you. Think before you act."

Emmett began to rub at his jaw. His shoulders were shaking with laughter, easing the tension that had been collecting in the room.

"You know dude, Robin would have never hit Batman."

I started to chuckle, I couldn't help it. Leave it to Emmett to be the comic relief in this situation. Jasper, shaking his head, started to laugh as well.

"Yeah, and you know Batman would never say the stupid shit you do."

The sound of a car horn echoing through the woods broke the lightened mood that seemed to be forming. We all piled out of the place, sprinting towards where Alice, Rose, and little man were. My arms were pumping up and down trying to will my legs to run faster.

Skidding around the corner, I was the first one to make it to the side road where the car was parked. Looking around, I saw that the doors were still closed. Alice was in the front seat honking the horn. I didn't notice any foreign cars or anyone standing by the car. I was confused as to why she honked.

Sprinting faster then I ever thought possible, I slid on the gravel, stopping in front of the driver's window. I started to impatiently pound on the glass while Alice fumbled with the door handle, clutching onto a still illuminated cell phone.

The door popped open and she thrusted the phone into my heaving chest. Crouching over, one hand was on my knee, I looked at the display of the cellphone clutched in my other hand while trying to catch my breath.

_phone off txt u asap wit loc. Idk ~B_

I flipped the phone closed and looked at Alice who was biting her lip, trying to keep from crying. I hadn't even seen Bella grab her cell when she got out of the car, but at least there was some way of having contact with her.

"What is going on?" Emmett's voice rattled the trees. He had just rounded the corner and was almost to the car. Jasper was a little ways in front of Emmett, making it over to the car before him.

"Is everyone alright?" Jasper asked clasping a hand on my back, trying to gain control of his breathing.

"Yes!" Alice shrilled while flinging herself out of the car and onto Jasper, "God I was so scared. I didn't.. I didn't know.."

He pushed her head closer to him and played with her hair while she sobbed, trying to comfort her. I had to look away, the scene making me feel insanely jealous.

I walked around the front of the car to the other side and opened the back passenger door. Kneeling down, my knees hit the road and loose gravel. A few random stones poked and stuck into my knees, but none of it really registered when I looked at the tear stained face of my son. Reaching out my hand, I gently cradled his little head in my hand. He jumped at first and I held my breath, afraid I had done something wrong, but then he relaxed and closed his eyes. I could feel my heart surge. I had never felt so in love with anyone before than at that moment, right then and there.

My thumb wiped across his cheek and gently removed the tears that seemed to have formed a stream, freely flowing down his face.

"Jackson?"

His eyes slowly slid open. Looking at my face, his little lip started to quiver again. Suddenly, I remembered I still had a hold of his little bear. Holding it up, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Ardan!!"

Jackson sprung forward, grabbing the bear from my hand and pulled it into a bone crushing hug. Instantly, I smiled. Seeing him so happy made me feel happy.

"Can I pick you up?"

When I saw that he was nodding his head, giving me silent approval, I reached in and pulled him towards me. The little beloved bear never left his grasp. Grabbing a hold of him, I stood up and shifted him to my right hip. I kicked the car door closed and headed towards the loose grouping everyone was standing in.

Joining the group, they all looked at me. Alice sighed and rested her head on Jasper's shoulder. He looked at me with what seemed to be a proud look on his face. Emmett held a thumb up in approval while Rose looked over at us with a very caring and concerned look.

"Aw Jax, I didn't know Martin was here."

Alice and Rose looked down at the bear that I had previously thought was named Ardan. He must have meant to say Martin, but just couldn't pronounce it correctly.

"Yup, he found 'em." Jackson said proudly while removing one of his hands from the bear and slinging it around my neck. I leaned my head into his, the corner of my lips pulled up into a small smile.

"Well isn't he a good guy?" Jasper said in a sing song tone to little man.

I felt Jax's head nod up and down. "Wait!" he all but screeched out.

We all looked straight at him, wondering what had suddenly popped into his head.

"Who you? Aunt Ro, Aunt Al, why they huggin' you?"

I had to suppress the laugh that was beginning to come out of me when I saw the little hand that was holding onto his bear point out a little chubby pointer finger and motion between Emmett and Jasper. Alice and Rosalie covered there mouths, giggling quietly into their hands.

Emmett pointed towards me. I could see the gears turning in his head, trying to formulate a way to explain me, himself, and Jasper.

"He actually happens to be yo-" I shot Emmett a death glare, silently asking him to shut the hell up, but my silent begging was answered by the little form in my arms.

"Noo, I know him." Jackson stated like he knew for a fact. I looked at him wide eyed waiting for him to continue. "He know mommy, and mommy said he take care of me."

My eyes began to pool with tears. I didn't know what to say to that, or how to react. All I could do was nod my head in agreement. I'd do anything for him.

"You an you." His little finger stabbed at the air towards Emmett and Jasper.

"Jax, they are friends of ours, and they are mommy's friend too." He seemed to be satisfied with the explanation that Alice offered to him. "We should head back towards home and file a report."

"Can we?" I didn't know how the rules for Florida worked when it came to a missing person.

"What's the worse that can happen?" Jasper added "They tell us no and we go back in a few hours."

I agreed. We needed to get the law enforcement involved. I was going to need help if I wanted to get Bella back, and I sure as hell had every intention to do what ever I needed to.

"Jazz and I will go with you. I can show you where to go." Alice and Jasper started to head towards my car.

"Emmett, you and Rose are going to follow us right?"

He said a quick 'yeah' to me.

I headed back towards my car, Jackson still wrapped around me. Jasper was waiting at the back passenger door and Alice was waiting to get into the front passenger seat.

"Jasper, can you drive?"

I wasn't ready to let go of Jackson. He was the closest thing I had to Bella and he was my son. I already had missed too much of his life. I was not willing to let this opportunity slip by.

"Of course." He didn't ask why, which I was grateful for. I didn't know how to handle my newly found daddy instincts.

Climbing into the backseat, I gently sat Jackson down next to me and put my arm around him. He looked up at me with a smile on his face, but his eyes looked tired. All of the events of the day had obviously taken their toll. I put a little pressure on his shoulders, encouraging him to lay his head down on my lap. He did so with out putting up any sort of fight.

I was even more horrible then I could have ever thought. I had made Bella leave while pregnant and so young at that. No wonder she works where she does and didn't go to school. I fucked up so bad, but once we get her back, things will change. She won't have to do this alone anymore.

I couldn't believe Charlie never told me. I would always go and talk to him and see what he knew about Bella. Why wouldn't he tell me she was pregnant? I would have been in Florida in a heart beat/ I would have done whatever I could to get her to come back with me, or at least let me be a part of Jackson's life.

We had to get Bella back. There were so many unanswered questions I had, so much I wanted to know.

"Sooo?" Jasper asked while catching my gaze in the rear view mirror.

Alice turned and put her head in between the two seats.

"She would have told you, she just didn't want to see him hurt."

"I understand. I was horrible. She had no way of knowing, but I want him in my life now. I need both of them in my life." Everything I said was true. I had been a stupid teenager who couldn't keep his hormones in check and screwed up. I wouldn't have trusted myself either.

"Were you there when she had him?"

"No," Alice started to shake her head, her eyes seemed to drift off, lost in an old memory.

"We met right before Jax turned a year old. She doesn't ever really talk about that time. She said one time that she was alone when she actually had him. Renee was off with Phil for one of his games."

"Dammit," I grounded out between my teeth. I quickly looked down at Jackson. Thankfully he was still asleep. I fucked up royally, worse then I could have ever imagined.

"Man, you had no way of knowing," Jasper must have sensed that I was becoming more and more pissed at myself.

"Still doesn't make it right, Jasper."

"Yeah, but you are here now. I think that should count for something." Alice added.

"I guess," I didn't know how to comprehend everything that was going on with me. My sad miserable life had been turned upside down, and given a good shake for added effect.

"We are almost to the station."

Alice pointed off to a road to the left and Jasper turned down it. I didn't even realize a whole hour had gone by. I always thought the saying was time flies by when you having fun, not when you feel like part of you is missing and stuck in hell.

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**Hope you all like!! I know you all wanted a bigger reaction from Eddie but no worries it'll happen.. he's just a little preoccupied worrying about Bella.**

**Review pretty pretty please! As with last chapter I'll send you a little sneak peek of next chapter.. maybe some good ole Papa Eddie and Jax time!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer- still don't own Twilight.. shame**

**Well here we are my lovely readers!! Sorry it took me so long RL kicked my ass and made me it's bitch lol but dammit I'm fighting back and back working on this story mark my words I won't go down without a fight lol**

**As some of you may notice that little sneak peek that I sent you will not be in this chapter but next chapter, I felt that this chapter needed to stand on it's own it's really emotional.. so grab your tissues lol**

**You all blew me away with reviews!! 335! You all are too kind to me!!**

**I owe major props to my beta A Cullen Wannabe for checking up on me and fixing this chapter for me.. even though you added the cop and coffee part I'll let it slide lol **

**(FYI not all individuals in law enforcement drink coffee or eat doughnuts.. although if there was a dunkin doughnuts or a starbucks in my town I may feel compelled to say otherwise but until that day I will be one of the proud and few non-addicted members of the criminal justice field lol ;p) **

**I also have to give a shout out to RoseArcadia my lil pimp who gave me words of encouragement on twilighted when I was swamped and 4ever Outspoken who messaged me today lol and the infamous Mrs.B who's been threatening bodily harm if I didn't start typing lol. **

**Ok ok I will get off my soap box now and let you all get to the good stuff.. sorry for the delay but I'm back bitches and you all better be ready!!**

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"Big Boy Panties"

Jasper pulled the car into a parking spot. I started to slide out of the seat, stopping short when I remembered I had a little head on my lap. Quickly I reached down, cradling Jackson's head in one hand and pulling him up so that I could hold onto him with the other. He only made a slight noise when I picked him up, other than that he stayed asleep.

We all headed into the police station. The lobby was kind of full with people, not as bad as I had expected though. I walked straight up to the window, where an officer sat sipping coffee with a bored expression working away at a stack of papers. Everyone fanned out behind me.

"Excuse me!" The officer barely lifted his head to look at me. "Hey!"

When I yelled at him, he looked at me, rolling his eyes. Overall, my patience was wearing out quickly.

"What do you guys need? If you are here to bail someone out, you have to wait until they are done with processing and then you have to go to-"

I held up my hand, trying to stop the run of the mill list that this officer must have to say on a nightly basis.

"Someone was kidnapped"

His eyes widened slightly when I said kidnapped, "Ok, did anyone see this person get taken?"

"Well, no, not exactly." I ran my free hand through my hair. I looked around at everyone, seeing if they had anything to add.

"Has it been over twenty four hours?"

"No," Emmett added from the left side of me.

"Female or male?"

"Female, Isabella," Alice said lifting her head from Jasper's side.

"Well, look, I'll leave a note that you guys came in, but you can't file a report until twenty four hours later unless you can provide physical evidence there was foul play, that she is mentally incapable, or needs medical attention. Other than that, there really isn't anything we can do tonight."

"Fine!" I spun around quickly, stalking out the door, slamming the glass door against the wall. I climbed into the back of my car, waiting for Jasper and Alice to get in.

"We are going to go back to their place and get some sleep," Jasper said while slipping quietly into the seat and starting the engine.

I nodded my head. I didn't think I could possibly sleep, but I knew it would feel good to finally get out of the car for a little while.

About fifteen minutes later, we were pulling up to a little house that had no lights on except for the porch light. It was quaint. I could see why Bella had chosen to live there. It was subtle yet beautiful, exactly like her.

We all got out of our cars. Jackson was still asleep in my arms. As we headed up towards the door, everyone was quiet, keeping their heads down. None of us knew what to say or what to do. We were stuck waiting what seemed like an eternity to even file a report to try and get Bella help. Nothing could soothe what we were all feeling. The only balm would be to have Bella back.

As we approached the porch, Rose started to unlock the door. We heard a faint sob coming from the far side of the porch. Emmett jumped in front of Rose, pushing her behind him. Jasper did the same with Alice and I angled myself so that Jackson was away from whatever had created the noise.

Emmett started to walk over towards a bench swing that was hanging from the far end of the porch. Jasper moved over so that he was standing in front of both Alice and Rose. We were all so wrapped up in our own sorrow; we hadn't even noticed a huddled figure on the swing when we came onto the porch.

The mystery person sat up. As she started to rub at her eyes, her glasses fell off in her effort. From what I could tell, she was petite and had dark hair.

"Angela?" Rose stepped in front of Jasper and Emmett. She stopped and turned to look at Rosalie.

"I'm so sorry," she began to sob uncontrollably again. Her mouth was moving, but I personally couldn't make out anything that she was saying. It all sounded like sobbing to me.

Both Rosalie and Alice quickly ran over to her, shoving Emmett out of the way. They grabbed Angela and started to rock her, telling her it would be ok.

"He… he took Jackson…" that caused her to start another fit of uncontrollable crying. Once her breathing began to slow down slightly, she spoke again. "He made me do it… he threatened Ben.. I couldn't ... I couldn't, I didn't know ..."

"Shh, it's ok Angela, let's get inside and we can talk." Alice said while playing with her hair.

Rose stood up, taking one of her hands to pull her up. Reluctantly, she followed along. The three girls started towards us a. Emmett followed behind them as Alice went up to the front door and un-locked it, shoving it open encouraging us all to enter.

As I started to make my way in the door way, I heard a gasp. I turned around quickly. Angela finally looked up and was looking at Jackson. Well, actually, she was looking back and forth between Jackson and me.

"Wh- What.. Why? Who?" She stammered out. The poor girl was so emotionally drained and confused.

Alice popped up in the doorway and I walked in past her, "Come on, Angela, we all need to talk."

She nodded her head and started to walk in. Rose was already inside, snuggled into Emmett's side. "His room is the third door down on the left."

I mouthed 'thank you' to her and headed down the hallway. I went into the room at the end of the hallway on the left hand side. I couldn't help the smirk that instantly took up a home on my face when I saw that he had a little car shaped bed, with a Spider-man bed set. Gently, I laid him down in his bed, tucking him in. I leaned down, my lips gently brushing his forehead. "Goodnight, my son, daddy is here now, forever."

My eyes began to prickle with un-shed tears when I saw his little face smile in his sleep. Quietly, I crept out of his room, closing the door silently behind myself. I noticed the door next to his room was opened a crack. I couldn't help but push it open; curiosity got the best of me.

My senses were instantly flooded with the scent of Bella. I blindly reached along the wall, trying to find the switch. Finally, I found it, flicking it up.

My breath escaped my lungs with a whoosh as I stood in the middle of Bella's room. I looked around at the life that she had made for herself. She had books all through out the room on different little shelves and tables. Artwork that Jackson had made was displayed all along the walls. As I walked along, I saw different pictures of her and him seeming so happy and content. Looking at her bed, I noticed that her comforter was a green similar to my eyes. She had a journal on her bedside table. Pensively, I reached down, thumbing through it. I knew I had no right to read it. My mind was screaming no, but my hand took upon the task by its own.

That last entry in there was on Jackson's birthday, or so the entry said such. She recalled what had happened that night in Forks with Tanya. The last paragraph she had written was her final resolve to move on, even though she still missed and loved me. I grabbed her book and fell to the floor, crying.

I cried for my son, I cried for Bella, and I cried for all the stupid mistakes I had made. I can never get that time back, but I would make sure to try my best to be there everyday for them, to finally give them someone that they could trust. I vowed to do whatever it took to get Bella back. I would make sure that we could be the family that she deserved, the family that we needed to be.

My body was wracked with sobs when I felt a big arm curl around my shoulder.

"I have been there for you through it all, man. I even remember taking baths with your stupid ass," I couldn't help but smile at Emmett and his uncanny ability to make me smile regardless of what ever situation we were in. Leave it to him to bring up when we were toddlers and my mom would watch him.

"You have to pull it together for that little boy in the room next to us. He's going to depend on you."

I shook my head. agreeing with him. I wiped at my eyes as manly as I could, trying to swallow what I had left of my masculinity. Emmett reached down and gave me a hand.

"I won't tell them about you crying like a baby, if you won't tell them about the bubble baths."

"Oh, you mean the time when you pooped in the tub? Or the time when you cried cuz you-" I was swiftly cut off by a punch in the shoulder. "Ow, I got it man, thanks Em, really I mean it."

"I know you do." He pulled me into a tight hug, patting my back. When he released me, we turned and saw Jasper standing in the door way smirking.

"What Robin? You wanna get in on this loving?"

Jasper just laughed and rolled his eyes. He walked into Bella's room, giving me a hug as well. All three of us turned and left the room. I carefully closed the door behind us.

Walking down the hall, I could see all the girls sitting together on the couch. I walked in, plopping down in a chair that was angled across from the couch. Jasper sat on the arm of the couch near Alice and Emmett mirrored his position on the other arm, Angela was in the middle.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know what else to do he… he said that he..." Angela began to break down again.

"You did what you had to do. None of us knew what _he_ was going to do." I tried to look her straight in the eyes and sound as sincere as I could.

She began to nod her head, finally realizing that we were all helpless in the situation. "So you're him?"

Emmett scoffed out loud at her question, "The amazing Edward Cullen? Why yes, yes he is."

I rolled my eyes at him. He was trying to hard to lighten the mood for everyone. I saw the corners of Angela's lips turn up into a small smile. She was enjoying Emmett's antics.

"I mean… you are Jax's dad?"

Hearing it out loud again, that I was Jackson's dad, made my heart swell again. I instantly had a smile on my face.

"Yeah, that's me." I knew my voice had taken on a dreamy tone when I talked about him.

"Angela, are you going to go back to your dorm, or do you want to spend the night here?" Alice asked.

I had no clue how late it was but my eyes were fighting to stay open.

"Um, I think I am going to go back to my dorm. I can have Ben stay over." She started to get up off the couch and made her way to the door.

"Call us when you get in so we know you are ok." Rose added.

With that Angela nodded and headed out the door.

"Well I'm beat. Emmett?"

"Right behind ya." You could hear the smile in his voice as he followed her down the hall, then we all heard a sharp slap.

Alice looked surprised. Jasper and I had to fight from laughing out loud.

"Shit, baby, that hurt. You know I was just kidding."

"Just making sure, I'm not about to do anything like that with you with everything that is going on." I could hear her open her door and waited until it clicked close to chuckle quietly.

"Um, Edward, you can stay in Bella's room, or the couch." Alice looked nervous as she ran over the different sleeping options I had open for myself.

"I'll figure something out, you two go to bed. Don't worry about me." I tried to sound my most convincing, even though I knew Jasper of all people would be able to see through it.

"Ok, I guess. Well, um, if you need anything, my door is across from Bella's," She stood up and gave me a hug. When she pulled back, she turned and looked at Jasper. "Jazz?"

"Coming, Darlin'." They both quietly slinked down the hall and went into Alice's room.

I was left to sit in the chair with nothing but my thoughts. Before they could run rampid and I would be reduced to nothing more then a blubbering mess again, I stood up and headed down the hall.

I stopped in front of Bella's door. My hand sat on the knob for the longest time, physically, I couldn't turn it. I pulled my hand back from the knob slowly. I took a deep breath, resting my forehead on the cool wood of the door.

My hand instinctively clenched into a fist. I wanted to knock on the door. I was hoping she was in there, and when I knocked she would open it and yell surprise. I wouldn't even be able to be pissed at her for disappearing, because it would mean she'd be here. I'd know where she was, and I'd know above all she was safe. God, was it so much to ask for to kiss her lips good night and tell her I love her?

I placed a gentle kiss on the door, "Wherever you are love…I love you. Dammit, I need you back."

My fists unclenched and were pressed to the door on either side of my head. I had to slow my breathing down before I found myself sobbing again. A few renegade tears fell down my face. Quickly, I swiped them away. Pushing off the door, I headed towards Jackson's room.

As quietly as I could, I opened his door. I slid in, closing it behind myself. I stood there for a few minutes, just watched him sleep. The subtle rise and fall of his chest had me entranced. I quietly tip toed next to his bed, lying down on the floor beside him. I closed my eyes and slowed my breath in time with his, trying to fall asleep.

Eventually, exhaustion won out and I was met by Bella's angelic face in my dreams.

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**Soooo what did you all think? Lemme know! Eddie had to pull on his big boy panties this chapter hence the title... Did everyone just love Emmett? Hehehe**

**Hey while you are at it reviewing come on over to twilighted and check the thread for this story and chit chat there too!! I'm needy I know I know lol**


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